“It’s me, baby,” the spirit said.

The voice was different in my mind—not as gruff, but still deep.

“Daddy?” My voice cracked.

He moved nearer. No wonder he hadn’t called. He’d shed his body. As a spirit, his giant chest and arms were bare, and he had a strange cloth wrapped around him from his waist to his knees. His body was humanesque, and yet not. Swirly and hazy. Too graceful. I felt a sense of loss knowing I’d never see that big, scary-looking man again. I pushed away the strangeness and sadness and lifted my chin to him.

“Thank God it’s you,” I said. “So much is happening. Pharzuph is hounding me, and I don’t know what to do or where to go.”

“That’s why I’m here.” His voice was unlike those of any of the dark whisperers. His was a soothing rumble. “You don’t have much time.” He turned his head to Kaidan, who came and stood at my side. The others watched, on edge.

“What do you suggest?” Kaidan asked.

“You have only one safe option,” Dad answered. “Get married.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

..................................................................

CHAPTER TWELVE

DREAM WITHIN A DREAM

The room stilled as his words cartwheeled around in my head. I had that distant feeling that came with dreams—first at the realization that Dad’s body was forever gone, and then the unbelievable words he’d just uttered—giving voice to a dream that I’d long since buried.

“We can’t.” I shook my head. It wasn’t possible. If there’d been a glaring loophole, we’d have thought of it by now. Dad failed to notice one major issue. “I have to stay a virgin. The sword—”

“No. You have to stay pure of heart, Anna,” Dad said. “What’s more pure than committing yourselves in love?”

“But . . .” I looked toward Kaidan.

My insides twisted at the dread on his face as he stepped back.

“No.” His voice was low. “It won’t work.”

I wanted to reach for him, but he stepped back even farther. His face hardened into the mask I knew all too well, concealing emotion.

“I’m sorry, Duke Belial,” he said to my father. “I can’t marry.”

I said nothing, but my heart shattered into a million shards as his rejection slammed into me.

“Don’t be stupid, Kai!” Ginger said. “There’s no time for this. If it can save you both, you need to do it!”

“Duke Astaroth will be able to see the bond of marriage,” Kaidan pointed out, frustrated.

“Well, he’ll see the bond of love between you anyhow, which is nearly as bad,” she countered. The twins’ father was the only Duke who could see relational bonds. We’d need to avoid him at all cost.

Kai thrust his fingers through his hair and faced away. He looked poised to run, his back muscles tense.

Obviously, being a husband had never been in the forefront of Kaidan’s mind, but his reaction still burned like an acid bath. If he loved me, why wouldn’t he want to take this step? Yes, we were young, but we weren’t normal. Yes, these were perilous circumstances, but the romantic part of me wanted him to want it all, peril or not.

“Dude, come on—,” Blake started.

“Don’t pressure him,” I said. “If he doesn’t want to do it, he shouldn’t have to.”

“Anna . . .” Kaidan kept his back to us, dropping his head. I hated seeing him like this. Especially with a roomful of others watching.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It was a bad idea.”

Dad watched our conversation play out, silent above us.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Marna said to me, then looked at Kaidan. “Really, Kai, why the hell not?”

“Marna—,” I began, but she shook her head and cut me off.

“That’s pants! What’s the problem?”

Kaidan turned now, a storm in his eyes. “She can’t tie herself to a bloke like me and expect to come out of it white as snow. It won’t work.”

I sucked in a breath, stunned.

“She loves you,” Marna whispered. “And you love her. You’re not going to soil her soul, babe.”

He shook his head. “My past has to be taken into account.”

“Your past is in the past,” I said, staying calm. “And it’s not going to . . . rub off on me or something. You know it doesn’t work like that.”

His jaw ticked as he glared at the wall.

I started to move forward just as my father’s weightless form lowered toward Kaidan and encircled him. Kai stilled, as if listening. What was Dad saying? More listening and head shaking. They seemed to converse for hours. Now Kaidan gave an almost imperceptible nod. I wanted to stop their silent conversation. For all I knew, Dad could be threatening him, like he’d once done when he wanted Kai to stay away from me. He’d gone from using all his power to keep us apart, to wanting us to get married?

“I need some time to myself,” Kaidan said. Without a backward glance, he left the room. I let my special hearing trail after him until he stopped on the deck outside.

I looked to the other three Neph. Blake raised his pierced eyebrow.

I turned on my dad and spoke to him telepathically.

You’d better not have threatened him.

I tried to reason with him and reassure him.

But . . . if this was a possibility all along, why didn’t you tell me?

I assumed you’d figured it out for yourself. This is what I hoped would happen with you and the son of Alocer.

Hold on. He’d wanted me to marry my friend Kope? Ugh! I turned my back, irritated. Dad’s massive spirit form moved in front of me.

I knew the son of Pharzuph would have reservations. I tried to back off and give the two of you space, but there’s no time for that now. I’ve told him that if he loves you, he needs to marry you.

“Gee, no pressure, Dad,” I said out loud.

“Sometimes people need to be pressured to do the right thing,” he said only to me, completely unapologetic.

“I need to talk to Kai.” I walked away from my dad and past the others. I took a couple wrong turns, Blake’s house being so huge, and when I got to the back doors, Kaidan was coming in. He must’ve heard me. To my relief, he reached out his hand and took mine, leading me down a flight of carpeted stairs and into a cave of darkness.

“This is my favorite room,” he said quietly.

I adjusted my sights and saw that it was a mini movie theater with four rows of stadium seating. The walls were covered in old movie posters and pictures of pinup starlets from long ago when it was considered unsexy to be skinny.

The room was atmospheric and cozy. We took a seat in the back row, never letting go of each other’s hands.

“Look,” I began. “I don’t know what my dad said to you, but don’t let him pressure you. You don’t have to do this. I’ll find a way to hide from Pharzuph.”

He looked resigned. “You can’t hide from him forever.”

“Yes, but I don’t want that to be our sole reason for getting married.”

He dropped his eyes to our hands, letting strands of dark hair block his face.

I tried to tell myself not to be disheartened, but it was hard. Talking about marriage like a business proposition or a means to an end . . . it was depressing. Yes, it would keep us safe to a degree, but both our hearts had to be in it or it would be a farce, not an arrangement born of love.

I began to stand. “I’m telling him no.”

Kaidan’s eyes shot up, wild, and he held my hands tighter. “You don’t want to get married?”

I sat again. “Of course I want to, but you have to want it, too. And it has to be for the right reasons.”

“I’d do anything for you—to keep you safe.”

His words were sweet, but he wasn’t getting it. Tears of disappointment filled my eyes, and he kept going.

“When I think of what those sons of Thamuz could’ve done—”