I barely keep that word slipping out, tensely waiting for someone else to confirm it.
“I still think a fight’s pretty fair,”Sai grumbles, then he sighs.“Fine. I guess, if we want to do this right, it should be his holy highness.”
“Agreed,”Julien adds.
Kane nods once.
I hold my composure, even when I feel my darkness rattle its cage, like the permission has awoken it.
“I’ll stay,” I finally confirm, aloud, noting Jasmine’s gaze is already locked on mine. The subtle flicker of her lips catchesmy attention—makes me wonder what she’s thinking. “If that’s okay…”
She presses her mouth into a tight line, as if struggling to hold something back, then clears her throat.
“Fine, but before we leave, I just need to make a couple of things clear.” Her fiery eyes flash over us, but there’s no need, she already has our full attention. Always. “You all have to want this, and if any one of us decides this friendship isn’t for them, that’s their choice and we will all accept it.”
Sai scoffs softly. “Baby, we’re in this for the long haul, can’t you see that?”
“And you can’t call me that,” she fires back, while Sai pretends to look confused. “You don’t call your friends…that.”
“Baby?” he repeats, shaking his head with a sly smirk. “But I call all my friends that.”
Her voice drops into a disbelieving drawl. “Since when?”
He lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. “About five minutes ago.” He points to Julien. “Right, baby?”
“No.” Julien sighs, pitiful, as though finally questioning why he ever chose this fae as his closest companion.
A flicker of amusement tugs at her mouth. “Anyway.” She quickly glares at Sai, and he mimes zipping his lips, ending the action with a wink.
The corner of my mouth twitches despite myself.
“You can’t predict the future, and things change,” she murmurs, eyes hazing over with a distant memory that breathes deception into the air, then her gaze is back on us. “This isn’t a contract. There’s nothing binding. I want you to understand,allof you, that if you decide this isn’t for you, if I’m not...”
If she’s not what? Right? Enough? Worthy?
A low growl rumbles in Julien’s chest. Sai’s glow flickers. Darkness sweeps across the ceiling like spilled ink on a page.
Her gaze catches it all—feels it all.
She swallows. “What I’m trying to say is, you have an out.” She lets the words settle, then looks at Kane. “Understood?”
His eyes are unwavering, deep black and endless as they stare back. He nods.
She releases a breath and we all watch, transfixed, as she switches.
Her gaze narrows into vicious little slits as black shadows curl around her skin like veins. My darkness surges forwards, sensing hers, eager to collide—I grip the chair.
I’d give anything to be one of those coils, wrapping her, guarding her, touching her.
To other beings, the dark weight of her presence would be terrifying, intimidating enough that they’d recoil under her gaze.
But not us.
No. To us, she is enthralling as we stare with desperate admiration.
“Secondly.” Her voice is laced with darkness, fiery gaze trapping us in her rapture. “I won’t have another relationship built on lies.” Her tendrils sweep out, circling, then binding us all in her grip.
The sensation is... euphoric. I barely bite back a moan.
