The Mortal Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

back.”
    Lila Jane nodded, moving down the aisle. The stacks appeared to spread in radial spokes, branching through the massive underground cavern in every possible direction. “It seems to me we came to the no-going-back place the moment you made the stone door abracadabra away.” She pulled out a thick parchment scroll, examining it every bit as thoroughly as if she were in the rare books reading room.
    Marian shook her head. “These aren’t small decisions, Janie. These are the moments that shape a life, even a destiny. The first time I saw this place, I couldn’t eat for a week. Everything I’d ever understood about the world was fundamentally and forever changed.”
    Lila Jane replaced the scroll and looked up at her friend. “But that’s the thing you don’t understand, Mare. My world already changed. It changed the day I met Macon Ravenwood. And if this is a part of his world, then last Sunday it became a part of mine.”
    Marian pulled her friend into a fierce hug.
    Lila Jane stared at the world beyond Marian’s pale cashmere shoulder, considering the words she’d just spoken.
    They seemed real, but it was hard to tell what was real anymore. Especially now, when her entire world had just turned upside down.
    “I think I’m going to love him, Mare.” The words sounded odd as they echoed through the vast cavern, as if they surprised even her.
    “Then we should talk.” Macon stepped out of the shadows and held out his hand.
    Slowly, Lila Jane let go of her friend and took it. He pulled her hand to his lips, tenderly kissing her white-gloved fingers with a smile. As he did, the look in his eyes said more than he could otherwise ever possibly hope to express.
    Lila Jane understood it all.
    I’ve broken him
, she thought.
I’ve never seen him look happier and sadder, all at the same time.
    “What’s this? A kiss on the hand? Surely you can do better than that, my dear Macon Ravenwood,” Lila Jane said, smiling back at him.
    “Come here, Jane.”
    Marian disappeared before the gloves even came off.

    By the time Lila Jane crept back home, it was the middle of the night, though every light in the apartment was on.
    Marian sat up on her futon. “Do you have any idea what time it is? I was worried sick about you.” Her futon was full of books, and Lila Jane flopped on top of them.
    “You’re the one who left me in the Caster Library,” she said.
    “Would you have preferred I stay?” Marian raised an eyebrow.
    Lila Jane smiled. “Of course not.” She crawled next to her friend, curling against the warm pile of comforters like a kitten.
    Marian sighed. “I worked for hours, thinking you two would come up for air and I’d catch you on the way out. But apparently neither one of you requires oxygen.”
    “I didn’t realize how much time had passed.”
    “You have a watch.”
    “I lost it.”
    “It’s on your wrist,” Marian said, looking at the delicate mother-of-pearl face.
    Lila Jane slid off the silvery band. “Now it’s not.” She sat up. “Here, I want you to have it, Mare. I don’t want any more time to pass. I want it to always and only be tonight.”
    “Janie,” Marian said. The word was a warning.
    But Lila Jane shook her head. “Don’t. Just let me do this. I have to. I know my life could be headed into a great big disaster. But it’s my disaster.” She smiled. “It’s the greatest disaster of my life.” She looked over at Marian. “Even if it’s my last.”
    “Your last disaster? I think we both know that’s not likely, though appropriately melodramatic.” Marian let Jane strap the watch onto her wrist.
    “I’m in love.”
    “Clearly.”
    “But he’s an Incubus. Practically a mythological creature. Except, of course, he’s real.” Lila Jane shook her head in disbelief. “Which makes no sense whatsoever.”
    “He’s a Dark creature, Lila.”
    “Lila? I’m suddenly Lila now?” Lila Jane looked taken aback.
    “Janie. I don’t know what Macon told you,