The Mortal Heart Read Online Free PDF

but his very nature is darkness. He can’t be with you. You’re a Mortal. You are literally anathema to each other. Fire and water. Madness and reason. Death and life.”
    “Who’s being dramatic now?”
    “I want you to be happy, Janie.”
    “I know, Mare.”
    “But you can’t. Not like this. Not with him.”
    “You’re the one who showed me the way into his world through Caster Tunnels, and now you just expect to take it all away again?”
    “I wanted you to know the truth, and I wanted you to decide for yourself.”
    “So let me. But give me more than a few hours to try to understand what’s going on. My whole concept of the universe just imploded. How am I supposed to know how I feel about things that I didn’t even know existed yesterday?”
    “It’s tomorrow I’m worried about,” Marian said. “You don’t know what Macon can be like. You don’t know him at all—him or his world. You don’t know anything.”
    “I don’t. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? How can I walk away when I don’t know what I’m leaving?” Lila Jane’s voice rose.
    Marian bristled. “How can you stay when you don’t know what you’re risking?”
    Lila Jane didn’t answer.
    They lay next to each other in silence. There was nothing more to say.

VI. Sins of the Father
    Macon spent every spare moment with Lila Jane. Whether it was researching side by side in the Caster Library, walking her to class, or stealing a kiss, he wanted every single memory burned into his dark heart.
    Because she won’t be mine forever
, he thought as he walked through the Tunnels to meet the one person he despised more than anyone else in the world—his own father.
    Silas Ravenwood.
    Macon was surprised it had taken almost a week for Silas to summon him. Maybe Hunting’s killing spree had distracted him, and his brother hadn’t gotten around to ratting him out until now.
    Maybe Silas had been on a killing spree of his own.
Or maybe my father wanted me to fall deeper in love with Jane before he crushes my dream of a life with her.
    Torture and torment were Silas’ specialties. Macon’s father savored the misery of an innocent even more than Hunting savored draining the blood from an entire dressing room of chorus girls.
    Macon opened the Outer Door that led into the study inside Ravenwood Manor. The house was located in Gatlin, South Carolina, a nothing of a town his family had mistakenly founded on their way to somewhere better. But no one had lived here for quite some time. White sheets covered the furniture, and dust glittered in the air. He wasn’t surprised this place was deserted.
    Something moved in the corner of the room, underneath the sheet covering a grand piano.
    A black dog—which looked more wolf than dog—raised its head.
    So my father found himself a Caster dog. Of course.
    Macon almost laughed. Silas hated animals. But he loved to spy—the unrivaled perk of watching the world through two pairs of eyes—your own and a Caster animal’s.
    “You can come out now, Father,” Macon called.
    Delicate smoke rings from Silas’ Barbadian cigar entered the room before he did. “As if I’d bother to hide from you.” Dressed in an expensive check dress shirt, rolled at the sleeves, and perfectly tailored Italian slacks, his father looked more like a member of the Mafia than a Dark creature from a race of Supernaturals.
    Silas flicked his ash on the floor next to the wolf-dog, and the beast growled.
    “It’s funny to see you with a dog,” Macon said. “Since you always refused to let us have one growing up.”
    Silas walked over to the stone fireplace. “Pets make children sentimental and weak. Comfort is for prey—and they pay people like me for it with their lives. I did you a favor.” He pointed at the animal across the room with the end of his cigar. “Lucifer is knocked up. If you want a puppy so bad, I’ll give you one.”
    Macon shook his head. “Her name is Lucifer? A little on the nose for you,