She pointed at it excitedly.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?”
She debated whether she should tell him about the albino hairdresser living in their bathroom mirror.
Vanishing roses, disembodied hands, and ghosts in the mirror…? He might think she was losing her mind.
That night, Hailey collapsed, heavy-hearted next to Holly’s empty bed with more questions than answers about her sister’s murder, about the Envoy that killed her, and about the creature that anticipated her arrival in the great White North.
Asher stood, eyes fixed on the horizon and seemingly deep in thought when Hailey emerged in the Aether. He made no move to greet her, which was strange.
“What is it?” she asked as she approached, and he finally turned to her.
“In your dreams, you belong to me and only me,” he said almost angrily.
Hailey stopped dead in her tracks.
Whoa.
Asher started toward her, and she knew not to retreat even though her legs shook.
“I’m no longer content in the Aether, and I wish to see you on Earth again,” he said in a far gentler voice as he closed the distance between them.
Hailey heaved a great sigh of relief.
“For a moment I thought you were angry.”
“I’m not angry…not withyou,” he said looking away and with a not-so-subtle emphasis on “you.”
Hailey swallowed hard.
“One of your human friends touched you yesterday, and I find his demand for your attention…troubling.”
Hailey wrinkled her brow as she searched her memory.
“You meanTage?” Tage was hardly a friend, and… “Asher, are you… jealous?”
“I don’t know,” he said with genuine confusion. “You’re mine, and when thatboyput his lips on you, I very nearly tore him apart.”
Asher pulled his hands into tight fists, and his whole glowing body pulsated.
“Is that…jealous?” he asked.
She nodded, her heart pounding. “I think so,” she breathed. She had to concentrate on not running away. “You really shouldn’t want to kill someone just because he touched me, Asher—that’s crazy,” she scolded him, her voice quivering.
“Is it?”
“Yes,” she said, leaning away. “And frightening.”
“Then I won’t kill him,” he said thoughtfully. He raised an incandescent hand to her cheek. “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he murmured, and a soothing flush of warmth spilled across her face.
She drew a breath to tell him…something…
What was it? What was he saying just now? Something about a boy…or lips…something…
Hailey looked up at him, her mind blank.
