Shannon’s Reviews > A Heart of Bitter Poison > Status Update

“…I had to know you were safe. I had to see it for myself.” Ashen pulls away and lays his hand on my face, brushing tears away from my skin. His own eyes shine in the light that surrounds us. “I will always come for you. No matter how long it takes me or who stands in my way. No matter the realm. I love you, Lu.”

“If I get rabies from these fucking sky mice, I will cut you,” I say, glaring up at the angel. “Likewise if your kind gives me angel rabies. You’re the first person I’ll bite when I’m foaming at the mouth.”  Aloros looks down at me with a combination of confusion and disgust. “You are an odd creature,” he says.  I sigh. Why is it that the Reaper is the only one aside from Ediye to really get me?

“Embrace your end, demon. For these are your last breaths in any realm,” a deep, familiar voice booms above the blinding light. Ember is still screaming when I shield my eyes and look into the light.  Blood pours from her severed arm. Ember’s hand lies in the snow, curled up at me like a dying spider. 

“I love you, Lu. My beautiful, otherworldly, magical goddess Lu,” he whispers.  Love. He says it so easily, like it’s both a privilege and a relief. Like tossing an injured bird to the sky and watching it disappear into the distance, healed and wild and free. And though I can’t say it back, he doesn’t seem to mind. Even just knowing he’s content with waiting draws a little more of the venom from my heart

“What the…what are you, a fucking cat bringing home birds now?” Ashen lifts a shoulder. “I thought you’d be hungry.” “So you went and got me takeout? And severed his spinal cord?” Ashen looks down at the crying man with about as much interest as if he were looking at a rock. “You said once that things got messy when you didn’t sing. I just thought I would make it a little cleaner for you.”

“The worst thing was that I never told you I love you, Lu. I should have told you when you trusted me with your voice for the first time… I should have said it over and over until I was sure you would never doubt it. You would have known I was coming for you. That no matter what happened, I would find a way to get you out. That I would give up anything for you.”

A sardonic smile creeps through my lips as I take a step toward Davina. “What, you’re going to say it’s love that broke him? That’s horseshit. If he loved me, he would have fought for me.” For the first time, I see a flash of flame in Davina, a dark amber spark buried deep in her pupils. “He did, in the only way he knew he could win.” My smile slips away. I sweep my gaze across her face…

Ashen could lean a little closer, just a few more inches, and our lips would press together. The kiss would be fierce with all this longing that churns in my chest. Or I could tear his neck apart with my teeth, take all the blood I can drink and stab him right in the heart, sending him back to the Shadow Realm.

“You kill him multiple times and yet he still comes back for you. He’s running around the Living Realm when he should probably be planning a war. Instead, he’s threatening to turn people’s eyes into cake pops because he’s worried about you. He could have brought you back to the Shadow Realm ten times over already yet he stays close to you… he even talks to Eryx, who’s technically his mortal enemy.”