Okay in the sense that no bombs should be dropping in our vicinity in the next few days. We still have a massive, warped rift belching shadows all over the city to deal with while avoiding all the hostile humans who’ve shown up to get in Peri’s way.
That thought brings back the memory of the sorcerers we saw compelling the attacking shadowkind to take physical form… so the tanks could blow them apart. I swallow thickly, a sour flavor coating my mouth.
Peri tips her head next to mine. “Did you see some bad news? You got upset all of a sudden.”
I’m never going to be able to keep any real secrets from her. Old habits die hard, though—a lie slips off my tongue automatically. “It’s nothing.”
Peri gives a soft little huff and pecks my cheek. “Iknowthat’s not true. What’s bothering you? If you don’t tell me, it’ll only bother me too that something’s wrong.”
I exhale slowly and turn away from the little desk I’ve set up in my personal trailer. Peri swivels automatically to perch on my lap, her soft weight a comforting presence in my arms.
Why am I trying to hide anything from her? I know she doesn’t judge me—she never has.
I’ve always been the person who’s hardest on me.
“I was thinking about the sorcerers who were working with the army,” I admit. “The way they set up the shadowkind so they’d die… I know the shadowkind started that fight, but I hate how most people who have the same power I do use it. They’realwayshurting shadowkind one way or another.”
“That’s because of who they are, not the power they have, right?” Peri nuzzles the edge of my jaw with a waft of affection. “Most of them were either brought up seeing shadowkind as inhuman monsters or went to the trouble of developing their powers because that’s what they believed once they found out about us. You’re lucky you got another perspective.”
I grapple with the right words to explain how I’m feeling. “The talent still feels… tainted somehow. The whole point of it is to take away your will, to force you to do what I say. I’m always going to have that ability.”
“You’d never use it in any way that would bother me, though. So it doesn’t matter.”
She says it as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. I can’t pick up on a trace of discomfort from her.
I shift Peri in my arms so I can look into her bright blue eyes. “It really doesn’t get under your skin at all? Knowing that I have something so fundamental in common with so many people who want to manipulate and destroy beings like you?”
She doesn’t hesitate even a split-second in her answer. “I don’t see it that way even a little bit. The sorcery is like… like a gun or a tank. You can use it to hurt people or to protect them when they’re threatened. Just because lots of other people decide to do the first thing doesn’t mean it’s not obvious to me thatyou’dalways do the second.”
She speaks so confidently the twist in my gut eases, but only partly. “I’m glad you feel that way. I don’t know whether I’ll ever be completely convinced.”
Peri tsks her tongue at me. “Doesn’t it make a difference that none of the shadowkind who’ve worked with you are unsettled by how you use sorcery anymore? When even Hail’s okay with a human, you must be doing something right.”
Her tone has turned teasing, but she does have a point.
A chuckle slips out of me, and I hug her tighter again. “I guess it’s just something I’ll have to keep working through in my own head. I’ll try not to let it get to me in any way that’ll worry you.”
Peri hums. Her hand comes up to trace the line of my jaw, and heat sparks through my skin.
A thread of desire winds from her into me, stirring more of my own.
“Maybe you need to practice the better parts of sorcery more,” she says in a voice that’s still sweet but with a husky quality that sends a tingle of electricity straight to my groin. “It could be fun. People tie each other up with ropes and handcuffs to spice things up in the bedroom, don’t they?”
My mouth has gone abruptly dry. “You want me to tie you up with sorcery?”
My heart is suddenly thumping twice as fast, but I can’t say it isn’t as much with a thrill at the thought as with nerves.
Peri presses a kiss to the side of my neck before answering. “I know you’d never put me in danger or treat me unkindly. Howwould you approach it if youweregoing to bind me with sorcery, for fun?”
The ideas flit through my mind giddingly fast. “I—I guess I’d start… by giving you a command not to follow any other commands that you don’t actually want to. That would give you a safety measure. I couldn’t bend your will against your actual preferences.”
Her voice drops to a whisper. “Then why don’t you do that and take it from there?”
I swallow again in a moment of uncertainty, but the slight shift of her ass on my lap makes me starkly aware of how hard I am.
Itwouldn’tbe risky to try this if I handle it the way I said, would it? Peri’s asking me to give it a shot.
I can taste her eagerness the way she must be able to pick up on mine, with none of my apprehension mixed in. The magical bondage might make the experience extra enjoyable for her, just as she pointed out other kinds of bondage can for people.
