Why are JJ’s memories in Cass’s head?
“Tell me what you want, Julian.”
Why isJJin Cass’s head?
“We’ll try every restaurant, explore every marketplace, visit every monument. Trace constellations and chase eclipses.”
This isn’t right.
“I’m still sure.”
This isdangerous.
“You don’t have to be the person the Sanctum turned you into.”
This is?—
“Look, are you pissy because?—”
“—I have ice cream and you don’t?”
JJ jerks to attention with the sensation that he just missed somethingveryimportant. He sits bolt upright in his chair, whips his head around to scan DJ Ice Cream, and looks back at the wide-eyed demon across the table from him.
Cass.Cassius Chin. JJ knows that. Cassius said it already.
Right?
“I…” Belatedly, JJ registers the demon’s question. “No, I’m—I’m pissy because you took my kid. You?—”
“JJ!”Cass unexpectedly slams his hand down on the table, and JJ starts with surprise.“This isn’t real.We already had this conversation, remember? This wasmonthsago.” He leans forward, his jaw set in a hard line. “You’re in my head.Whyare you in my head? Why are you?—?”
And then, all at once, JJ remembers. The little field trips into town with Desi, the slowly growing affection with his demonic co-parent, Cass rescuing JJ from the Sanctum, the three of them making afamilytogether?—
Walking away from Cass and paying the price when he got kidnapped.
JJ sucks in a sharp breath, the ice cream parlor—or the memory of it, at least—blurring the slightest bit around the edges as he comes back to himself. “Right. Right, I’m—I’m back. Sorry. Just got confused for a minute.”
Cass’s hands are trembling on the table. “This is a soul bond, isn’t it?” he whispers, fear snaking into his voice. “I can—I canfeelyour energy flowing into me.”
“Well, I feel fine so far,” JJ says, which isn’t entirely true. He’s rapidly starting to feel faint and nauseous, but there’s no reason for Cass to know that—not yet, anyway. “So I guess it’s working, right? And Ez will cut the connection before it does any permanent damage.”
Cass reaches across the table, grabbing JJ’s hands. “You could die. You understand that, right? Usually, only one person makes it out of a soul bond alive, and?—”
“Yeah, I get that,” JJ says. Even past the lightheadedness, he feels a strange type of peace with the words. “It’s going to be you.”
Cass’s eyes widen. “What? No. JJ?—”
“You said yourself that you would only get seventy-eight years with me, remember?” JJ says, and he squeezes Cass’s hands lightly. “Rounded up to eighty for convenience. And—and I know that Desi is going to grow up someday, but I’d still want her to have one of us, even centuries from now. Evenmillenniafrom now. You can give that to her. I never could.”
“Shewantsboth of us,” Cass says desperately, his fingers tightening around JJ’s.“Iwant both of us. I want our family, you and me and Desi. I don’t care if I only get you for eighty years, or forty, or—or even less than that. We’re bettertogether,JJ.”
JJ’s heart twists. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I know you said you wanted someone who would live for you, not—not someone who would die for you.”
“Don’t youdarestart apologizing, Jackson,” Cass hisses. “You’re not allowed to say goodbye. Don’t?—”
“You meant everything to me.” The world is starting to feel foggy around JJ. Confusing. Why is he saying that to a demon? Why does he inexplicably care so much? Why?—?
He just came here to get Desi back, right?
