I arched a brow.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he muttered. “But you grew up in this world, didn’t you? You didn’t hear the lore growing up?”
“Yeah, I’ve always known what I am, but no, I don’t know much lore. Pretty much everything I know about the supernatural world I either taught myself or learned while I was working for the Chambers. Why? What’s the par animarum?”
“A myth. A story my mom told me before bed. Her mom told it to her before bed, and her mom before that, and…” He lifted a shoulder. “It’s a myth.”
“About…?”
He went back to staring. His mouth opened and clapped shut a few times. He leaned further into the counter behind him, uncomfortably scratching the side of his head.
Just as I was about to call him out for ogling again, he said, “Immortals that fucked and got super powerful.”
My face screwed up. “I’m gonna need you to repeat that.”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” He reached up to rub his eyes, head shaking. “I don’t know. My mom said that they were immortals, and that they were bound to each other. Their souls were bound. That’s what par animarum means. Paired souls.”
I still didn’t understand, and I was sure my face said so. “Soulmates? Is that what you’re talking about?”
He grimaced. “I like par animarum better.”
“Okay…” I looked him over. “And what’s your point?”
Declan got quiet again. His eyes flicked over me, shining with the same awkwardness I was famous for. “I think that’s why you were in my head.”
As the lines gradually connected in my mind, my brows sunk into my gaze. “You think we’re soul mates.”
“Par animarum,” he repeated.
“We just met.”
“We did.”
“And you said it’s a myth.”
“It is.”
“So where the fuck is this coming from?”
“Because you were in my head without trying. Because the myth says we can feel one another’s pain, and you felt mine. Because it started after we fucked, and that’s what the myth says. That the bond comes through intimacy.”
I scoffed. “Now this…Thisis crazy.”
“I know.” He visibly cringed, shoulders wiggling, as though he was shaking off a chill that rose up his spine. “I know—it’s fucking bizarre. But do you have another explanation? Because I sure the hell don’t.”
“Well, no, but that doesn’t meanthisis the explanation,” I said. “This is—”
“Insane. Yes, I’m aware. But tell me that sex wasn’t the best you’ve had,” he said. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you’ve ever been that intimate with someone. Let alone someone you just met.”
That part… That, I couldn’t disagree with.
“It was pretty great,” I muttered.
“Reallygreat.” His tone wasn’t much different than mine. Honest, but uncomfortable. His eyes shifted to the floor, scanning the tile. “I don’t know what this means. I think it’s pretty clear that you’re not my biggest fan, and I get it. I’m an asshole. But somehow, we’re connected now. If not by this, then by something else, and we have to figure out how to deal with that.”
He wasn’t wrong.
He has been kind of an asshole. But I’m also kind of a bitch. Aren’t we just a match made in heaven?