Dark Heart Rising Read Online Free PDF

eagerly. ‘It means that Luca hasn’t let you go yet … If he had, I would never have been able to take you back … So whatever my motivation, this is a mutually beneficial arrangement.’
    My eyes lingered on him for a while. I still had a link with Luca. Luca hadn’t forgotten me. It was a glimmer of pathetic hope. I took a deep breath. ‘Well it hasn’t worked out so well so far, has it? Your clever little plan – it’s just made everything worse.’
    ‘There’s still time,’ Soren said slowly. ‘The wedding is not for a while yet.’
    ‘They don’t want me there. He doesn’t want me there.’
    ‘Who cares?’ Soren gave a short bark of a laugh. ‘They cannot stop you going … any more than they can stop me.’ He dropped his head, as though regretting speaking out, but I was still caught up in my own thoughts.
    I gazed down at the floor for a few seconds, my mind whirring, then lifted my head to look Soren in the eye.
    ‘You and I against the force of Henora’s will …’ I smiled sadly. ‘The force of family unity – I don’t see how we can possibly win.’
    Soren dropped to his knees in front of me. ‘Luca and Lila are not meant to be … whatever the highers intend. It will be a lifetime of regret and unhappiness.’
    I thought of Gabriel, tortured by his weakness, by his disloyalty to his own kind.
    ‘Maybe not.’ I lifted my head. ‘Maybe his family duty means more to Luca than me … in the end.’
    Soren’s lips curled in a gesture of disappointment.
    ‘I thought you were stronger than that,’ he said wearily. ‘I thought you would fight for him. Not just let him destroy his life.’
    ‘Well.’ I sniffed, a mass of conflicting feelings tumbling inside me. ‘You were wrong about that, I guess.’
    There was a silence and Soren got to his feet. I stayed looking down at the floor, unable to meet his eye.
    ‘I won’t give up,’ he said softly. ‘I will leave you to think about it.’
    ‘Wait,’ I said. ‘All this stuff – studying at the Sorbonne … your childhood in Hungary … is it all a lie?’
    ‘It’s complicated,’ said Soren. ‘Let’s just say it is partly true. I belong to this world as well as to Nissilum.’
    I lifted my head then. ‘So, you’re not a wolf? You’re mortal? I don’t understand.’
    Soren hesitated, putting his long pale hands in his jeans pockets. ‘I am whoever I choose to be,’ he said. ‘I came from there … but I am able to pass from this world to Nissilum, as long as I have a link. I can move from place to place.’
    ‘You’re an outcast,’ I guessed. ‘They threw you out of Nissilum.’
    He shrugged. ‘I suppose I am not quite “loyal” enough. I just couldn’t face a world where all my natural desires … all my dreams … are forbidden to me.’
    ‘So how would it ever work with you and Lila,’ I said, ‘if you can’t live with her?’
    ‘Lila wanted the same as me …’ he said, ‘until family got in the way.’
    I frowned, not really understanding what he meant by that. A figure of speech, I guessed.
    ‘Does it really matter what she wanted before?’ I asked. ‘She wants Luca now.’
    As I said the words, I felt the injustice of it all. It was cruel. A burst of anger shook me. I clasped my hands together, trying not show it.
    ‘Hmm.’ Soren paced the floorboards slowly. ‘I underestimated you, I think, also.’ He swung back to me. ‘Luca is a foolish boy. To give you up. You are strong after all.’ He gave a dry laugh, then spoke more gently. ‘To let the one you love go.’
    My eyes pricked with tears. Right then I didn’t feel strong. I wanted to scream at the top of my voice. But I knew there was no point in fighting … How could I win over Luca’s family, his obligations, his traditions?
    I bit my lip, not daring to speak.
    ‘If you change your mind,’ said Soren, ‘you only have to say my name and I will be with you.’
    I stared at him. Part of me wanted to do it. To go along with his plan.