“No,” she said impatiently. “I can tell what you’re feeling, though. It’s written all over you.” Giselle looked her up and down. “You’re intrigued by Asher, but Asher doesn’t care about you. Hepossessesyou. And if you don’t behave the way he wants, he’ll kill you.”
Looking away, Hailey shook her head in protest or denial—she wasn’t sure which. Asher couldn’t be the monster Giselle painted. He was strong and good and…and he was protecting Hailey from the real monster—the one that’d killed Holly. Hailey trusted him. He was just being…authoritative at Bear Towne. It was his university after all.
“You know, I’ve hardly seen him since I got here,” she told Giselle reluctantly as they continued walking.
Giselle curled her lip. “Don’t get all swoony over him because of the way he looks—any Envoy could look like that.”
Hailey stopped. “What?”
“You didn’t think it was weird that Asher looks an awful lot like James Dean?”
“Who?”
“Really?”
“I—”
“Stop. Listen.” Giselle held her hand up, drew a loud, nasal breath, and put on her serious face. “Envoys can make whatever body they want. Most are so socially clueless they end up looking like death. Why should they spend their energy to keep an attractive body? They don’t give a shit what people think, and they only see each other as balls of energy.”
“Asher looks normal—better than normal, he—”
“That’s the point. He shouldn’t. Two decades ago, he didn’t.”
Giselle fell to her knees.
“What are you doing?” Hailey asked with a confused chuckle as she bent to help her roommate up, but instead of standing, Giselle fell onto her hands and pressed her forehead to the ground in a full-on grovel.
“Hello, Hailey,” said a familiar, velvety voice.
Hailey turned to find Asher approaching. And he looked angry.
“Hi,” Hailey breathed, and Giselle whimpered.
Chapter twenty-two
Tied in Knots
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.” - Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Crist
Asher flicked his stormy eyes at Hailey. “Would you excuse us?” he asked. It was more of an order than a request.
Hailey swallowed hard and nodded. “Of course,” she said with a shaky voice, and Asher grasped Giselle by the arm, pulling her to her feet.
“Asher!” Hailey cried, her heart sinking horribly, and he hesitated without breaking his gaze at Giselle. Hailey shook her head, desperately searching for the words that would spare Giselle from his wrath.
“It’s my fault! Giselle didn’t do anything,” Hailey begged, as a tear rolled down her cheek, and Asher shoved Giselle to the sidewalk.
Very slowly, he turned to Hailey, his eyes squinted and churning, and Hailey knew not to run from him, even as terror washed over her. She stood her ground and met his eyes as he squared up with her.
“Are you well, Hailey?” He gently brushed the tear from her cheek.
Hailey nodded, relieved he didn’t direct his anger at her. “I’m just afraid for Giselle.”
“You care for her, but she doesn’t deserve your affection,” he said tenderly. Then he smiled briefly and turned to Giselle, again snatching her up, this timeby her ugly gray hair. “I’ll return her in one piece,” he promised, and then they both disappeared into thin air.
Still gripping Giselle by the hair, Asher materialized on the first floor. He sensed Jaycen’s anxiety before he opened her door. Sure enough, Jaycen was there, wringing her hands inside her dorm room as she nervously paced in a three-foot square, no doubt rehearsing her petition. When Asher and Giselle stepped across the threshold, Jaycen fell to her knees at the Envoy’s feet. She quivered there, all but dry heaving in terror until he addressed her.
“You’ve betrayed me, Jaycen. You’ve been consorting with the wicked humans. What do you have to say?”
