10
Psi stared at the closed door. His limbs felt like they were being weighed down by a thousand metric tons of pressure. He heard his heart beating loudly in his ears, like the blades of a speedboat. The organ pushed at his chest, trying to propel him forward, but his feet were like anchors.
He’d taken her shoes, and he very nearly hadn’t given them back. He’d never been like this, crazed about someone, to the point where he wanted to bend them to his will.
“Did I just rescue you from the clutches of a wannabe Chosen?” asked Desi.
Quite the opposite. Desi had narrowly saved the water witch from becoming Psi’s personal slave. He’d lost control of himself when she’d demanded to be put down. For a moment, everything had gone white. He’d almost tried to take her soul and make her a Chosen, against her will.
It was a practice that he and his siblings had outlawed after the death of their parents, the Titans.
A being whose soul was stolen from them became a slave; demons, they were called.
Nothing remained of the person they’d been.
Their entire purpose in life, after their eyes turned black from the theft of their will, was to serve the one who held their soul.
He’d never, in his entire existence, stolen a soul. What the hell had come over him? He’d lost his mind.
“She doesn’t want to be chosen.” Psi looked to his brother. “For the first time in my life, I wanted someone to choose me.”
“Wow, that’s deep,” said Desi. “Even for you.”
The pain Psi felt was deep. Vivi’s rejection was crushing in on him. He’d watched as the Titanic sank in the Atlantic. He’d nearly forgotten the terrible sound of the boat ripping in two. It rang in his ears now as he felt his heart being rent apart.
He could hardly breathe in the air of the room. It was cloyed at his throat now that it didn’t carry her scent. The area was rapidly losing any sign of her.
The accusation she’d made against him was also crushing.
She thought he was using her. In a sense, he had been.
He was using her to make him feel alive again.
Sitting next to her, watching her eyes light up, watching the determination in her chin, they all made him feel alive. It had given him a new purpose.
Psi wanted to show her more new things. He wanted to watch her marvel at new experiences. He wanted to watch her stand on her own. He wanted to taste her and feel her body pressed against his.
She was right. She hadn’t asked a single thing of him, but directions. He’d pushed himself on her, forced his way into her life. He’d nearly taken her soul from her so that she’d forget the infernal shoes and stay with him for all time.
He would give her his breath, his feet, his heart if she would just walk back through that door.
“If she means that much to you,” said Desi, “then why are you still standing here with me?”
“You heard her,” said Psi. “She rejected me.”
Desi shrugged. “You reject humans all the time.”
“I took away her autonomy. Literally. I took away her shoes. And I wasn’t going to give them back at first.”
“That is pretty low,” said Desi. “Taking a woman’s shoes from her.”
“I nearly snatched her soul.” If he had then she would’ve been under his control. That’s not what he wanted. He wanted Vivi to choose him, to come to him willingly.
He didn’t want her eyes to change from the pale translucent gems that they were to black and soulless. He wanted her to look at him with brightness and certainty. He wanted to prove his worth to her. He wanted to be worthy of her.
“I think I may be in love,” said Psi.
“Oooh,” groaned Desi. He came to Psi and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I’m really sorry for you, brother.”
“What do I do?”
“Go after her.”
“But you heard her,” said Psi.
“Yeah, I also saw her. A little slip of a thing like that will not survive for long out in the mean streets of the world. Go after her. If nothing more than to protect her. Then once you have her safe, you can lay on the nautical charm.”