“I wasn’tinhis bed, I was on it,” she informed him. “And I only ended up there because after you ignored me, I went home, and Fin was there, and he ran out to help me remove a gazillion staples from my back and neck and arms and head, and then I passed out, but you still stayed away, and all I could think was that you were out with Cobon plotting to kill me.”
Hailey bit her lips together, squeezed her eyes shut, and slapped her hands over them. “I’m so sorry,” she said. She had no right to accuse him of disloyalty when she’d slept in Fin’s bed the night before.
Asher fixed his eyes on her. “Cobon will one day succeed in killing you, and he is clever. He has found a way to breach my university perimeter. I can no longer feel when a creature crosses.” He blinked. “But Cobon has agreed to stay away for a short while.”
“Is that why the university isn’t safe for me? Wait. You were with him last night?”
Asher dropped his gaze.
“Asher, did you make a deal with him?”
“We discussed a way to save you—an energy swap,” he continued, closing the gap between them and reaching for her cheek. “I would have to separate your soul from your body,” he said as he stroked her gently. “I would have to kill you temporarily.”
Hailey inhaled sharply, but she didn’t jump away from him.
“I love you, Hailey, and I don’t want to lose you.”
“Are you even capable of love, Asher?” Her heart pounding in her throat, she watched him close his eyes, ducking his head slightly.
“Can you not feel my love for you?” he asked, his voice half hurt, half angry.
“Sometimes,” Hailey told him cautiously. “Just so you know, it’s not romantic at all to talk about killing someone you love—even temporarily. I’m not okay with that. The whole separate-the-soul-from-the-body thing… I think we should talk about this.”
She didn’t know if he would even entertain her thoughts on the matter. If he decided to kill her, she was dead, and that was that. She couldn’t stop him.
“We will.” He brushed a strand of hair over her shoulder. “I brought you something from Pittsburgh,” he said with an eagerness Hailey had never seen in him before.
“You were in Pittsburgh?” she asked, smiling a little. Jeez, if she’d known he could flit back and forth so easily, she’d have asked him to bring her some of her things.
Asher nodded and took her hand, leading her into his home and through the doors of his atrium to a wooden bench, built for two, which sat near the two-story stone fountain.
“Sit here,” he told her, “and close your eyes.”
Hailey obliged, enjoying the feel of her new skin against the back of the bench as the thunder of falling water filled her ears.
“Your uncle sent these for you,” came Asher’s voice, and Hailey opened her eyes to find her tattered dance shoes sitting on the floor in front of her. She stared at them blankly for several seconds.
“I thought you’d be pleased,” said Asher. “Was I mistaken?”
“No,” said Hailey softly as she got up. “I just haven’t danced since…” Her voice died on her, and she picked up her shoes. “I’m not allowed to use these here anyway,” she said holding them wistfully, and Asher touched her hands.
“Dancing makes you happy, and seeing you happy pleases me. You may dance here, in my home, whenever you wish.”
“Don’t you hate percussion?”
“I do. I find it intolerably annoying, but I enjoy seeing you happy.”
As Hailey hugged her shoes to her chest, Asher produced a letter. “From your uncle,” he told her. “He kept me waiting while he wrote it, and I confess I listened to his thoughts as I lingered.”
“You can hear his thoughts? How?” she asked absently. She already knew. But she needed to hear it from Asher.
“It was Cobon,” he said, answering her real question. “Your uncles agreed to watch over your line centuries ago.”
Centuries. No wonder Uncle Pix was so grumpy.
“How is he?”
“He insisted I tell you he’s well.”
