“Forever?” Shock lashes through me, powerful and potent. “But then …” Tears sting my eyes as my future opens up in front of me. “No one will ever want to be with me, won’t be able to be with me. I’ll die alone.” My teary eyes drift to my cage, my home for nearly a decade and a half, and then my gaze returns to Caspian. “Wait. How can you touch me and I don’t go crazy? I mean, I haven’t transitioned yet, so shouldn’t I be insane by now?”

“No, you’re cursed, so my powers don’t work on you,” he says, warily eyeballing the tears streaming down my cheeks. “You’re crying again.”

“I’m sorry.” I sniffle, but tears just continue to pour out of my eyes. “What do you mean by cursed? Cursed how, exactly?”

“That will be revealed in time.” His tone is tight. “For the love of God, Heartley, will you please knock off the crying? It’s not the end of the world.”

“Yes, it is,” I gripe through a sob. “I’ll never be able to touch anyone.”

“That’s not entirely true,” he reminds me. “You’ll be able to touch anyone with Maddening blood inside their veins, like me.”

A few more tears leak from my eyes, but I manage to get my sobbing under control. “Just how many of you—us—are there?”

He shrugs. “Not that many.”

I frown, my eyes bubbling with tears. “So, I’ll just be stuck with whomever I can find?”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” His lips threaten to turn into a smirk. “How can it be when I’m in that category? After all, you already established that you think I’m rock solid.”

“Actually, I said solid like a rock, which technically isn’t the same thing.”

“So, you’re saying you don’t think I’m rock solid?” He sounds annoyingly doubtful.

I give a nonchalant shrug. “How do I know? I only touched you once.” My fingers twitch at my sides. “Maybe if I give it another try, I’ll have a better answer.”

His brow cocks. “You want to touch me again?”

I waver, questioning what the right answer is. When I come up blank, I decide to go with the truth. “Yeah.”

He stares at me for an unnerving amount of time, to the point where I become fairly sure he’s going to say no. Then he shrugs. “Fine, if you must.”

I attempt not to get too overly eager as I reach forward and line my palm to his chest. But the instant my hand touches him, my heart starts to beat wildly. My legs begin to tremble as I run my hands over him, moving from the top of his chest to his abs. Then I trail my fingers across his collarbone, his chest, his waist, all the way to the bottom of his shirt. When I reach the top of his waistband, my knuckles graze his skin. I shiver from the connection and repeat the movement again and again …

“Heartley,” Caspian growls out, sounding pained. “I think you need to …” His words fade as I let my fingers wander underneath the waistband of his jeans.

I have no clue what I’m doing or why I’m doing it. All I know is that it feels so good, like my body is starved and finally getting a tiny taste of food for the very first time. And I want more.

My hands travel farther downward.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing.” My dazed voice sounds so foreign. “Should I stop—”

His lips abruptly come down on mine so hard I swear I’m going to have a bruise. As quickly as the kiss begins, though, he pulls back.

His eyes are wild and filled with a hunger I can’t comprehend, yet the sight of them makes my stomach twist in the strangest, most wonderful way.

“Oh my God, you’re driving me crazy, which is saying a lot,” he growls then crashes his lips against mine again.

I groan as he bites my bottom lip then parts my lips with his tongue. Never ever have I felt anything like this. The blistering heat, the crazed frenzy, the hammering of my heart, the desire blazing through me. I want more.

Crave more.

I open my mouth and reach for him, preparing to devour him the same way he’s devouring me, when my body chills, as if someone doused me with ice water. From in the house somewhere, a clock chimes twelve.

“Happy birthday to me,” I mumble, then kiss Caspian.

“I’m so sorry, Heartley,” Caspian whispers, his voice sounding so far away.

I jerk back and catch a glimpse of unfamiliar dark red eyes staring at me before pain rips through my body.

“I’m not going to give this one up so easily,” a voice hisses. “If you try to take her, I’ll come for her over and over again.”

I hear Caspian shout something, but his words echo away as everything goes black.