“That’s not saying much.”

“It’s kind of too bad, though. I was going to rescue Damien, bring him home, and raise him as my own.”

“Like a wolf in the wild?”

I could swear I’d heard that before.

“I doubt his mother would have appreciated that,” he said, being all logical.

“Yeah, Cookie said the same thing.”

“Okay,” he said, “next. Now that we’re getting everything out in the open, what else has been bothering you?”

“Nope, the last one was mine. It’s your turn. What else has been bothering you?” I’d let my fingers linger. Traced his jaw. Delighted in the feel of his stubble. “What other secrets are you hiding behind those sparkling eyes?”

He grinned. “You have my heart. That’s where I hide all my secrets.”

“Then I guess I don’t have the key.”

“Are you kidding? You forged the key.” He kissed the tip of my nose, lay back, and tugged on one of my belt loops until I was tucked safely at his side. Folding one arm behind his head, he stared at the ceiling. I followed his line of sight, wondering about the little boy hanging out up there, then returned to Reyes’s magnificent profile.

“You haven’t really talked about what happened to you in the warehouse in New York.”

“You mean before you got there?” I asked.

He nodded, and I thanked God he could no longer read my emotions. That was where I got the god glass. That was where I found out my husband was a god of Uzan. And that was where I got the means to trap said husband should the need arise.

“There’s not much to tell. Kuur tried to get me to tell him where Beep was. I wouldn’t. He got mad. Chaos ensued.”

“Chaos always ensues when you’re around,” he said, his voice full of humor. “Nothing else happened?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“Then why do I think you’ve been hiding something from me ever since that night?”

“No clue. Why do I think you’ve been hiding something from me ever since that night?”

“No clue.”

I rose onto my elbow and put my chin on his chest. “Let’s make a deal.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s not keep any secrets from each other anymore.”

“That’s kind of radical, don’t you think?” He was teasing. Humor tugged at one corner of his mouth.

“I hear it’s all the rage.”

“No secrets between married couples? You’re going to start a revolution if you keep thinking like that.”

I squinted in thought. “Maybe more like, no secrets unless the other person knows you’re keeping a secret. You know, full disclosure.”

“I’m not sure you’ve grasped the concept of full disclosure. It would imply, you know, full disclosure.”

“True, but work with me here.” I got excited. This could be just the ticket. “I could tell you I have a secret that I couldn’t tell you, but then you’d know I had a secret so it would all be out in the open and no one would feel guilty or left out of the loop, et cetera, et cetera.”

“You don’t think that would defeat the purpose of revealing a secret?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

He cleared his throat, and I had a sneaking suspicion he was trying not to laugh. His hand, the one he’d slipped under my sweater again, slid up my spine, his splayed fingers scorching my skin, infusing it with warmth. “Okay, let’s give it a shot.”

I wiggled closer in excitement. I thought about the things I’d been keeping close to my heart. The first secret, the super-big biggie, the monstrosity of all monstrosities, was of course his godly status. I was keeping it because, well, he was created using the energy of an evil god, so I wasn’t sure what would happen when I told him. And the second was the god glass. Similar reasons. Different outcome. Besides, the god glass was the heart of my backup plan.

Now that I knew what he was, I understood so much. I could feel his power. It pulsated out of him in waves. It was raw and turbulent and dynamic. He was so much more than just supernatural, and now that I knew, it made sense.

He was a force. A maelstrom. A nuclear reactor. And such power was often wild. Unpredictable and uncontrollable. I simply needed to know more. Unfortunately, there was only one entity I could think of who grew up in the same neighborhood, who knew more about Reyes than anyone else on this plane: Osh’ekiel.

I would tell Reyes eventually, but I needed to do a little digging first.

“All right,” I said, swallowing hard, “I have two secrets I can’t tell you.” I fell back and spread my arms, one landing on his face. Quite on purpose. “Whew. Boy, do I feel better getting that off my chest. Oh, wait.” I thought a moment. Technically the fact that I hadn’t told him that Satan had somehow trapped him when he was in evil-god mode could count as a third secret. “Cancel that. I have three. Sorry.”

He bit the arm that was still lying across his face softly, making me giggle like a schoolgirl. I rolled closer.

After I nestled beside him again, he said, “Three, huh? That’s a lot of secrets.”

“True, but at least now you know I have them and that I’ll tell you when I can. The minute I can. No, the microsecond I can. So, what about you?”

“Hmmm,” he said, thinking aloud. “I guess I just have one. No.” He thought again, drawing it out until I was on the verge of chewing my nails off. “Two. Yeah, technically I have two.”

I stared, crestfallen. “You’re keeping two secrets from me?”

He laughed out loud. “You’re keeping three from me.”

“But—” I rose onto my palms. “But what are they? Why are you keeping them from me?”

For the barest hint of a moment, sadness flashed across his face. It was mostly in the eyes. The tiniest slip. The barest hint. But he recovered instantly and grinned again. “I knew this wouldn’t work.”

Dread spread through me. Reyes didn’t get sad. Reyes got mad. He became stone. He plotted and planned and worked until no matter what the problem was, he knew how to solve it. But sadness? Was it something he couldn’t control? Something he could do nothing about? Inevitable?

But the whole reason for this was to form a stronger bond. To trust one another even when we couldn’t tell the other, for whatever reason, what that secret may be.