A low growl rumbled from the blackness inside that passage, and Hailey’s heart quickened.
“Keeping you safe requires much effort,” Asher sighed, gently tugging her hand. Then he paused to study her. “I wonder if I shouldn’t lock you away,” he said, his eyes tracing Hailey’s hairline as he ran his fingers across it. “I would put you someplace where no one could touch you.”
Hailey yanked her hand from his.
“Lock me away?” she said, her voice rising. “Asher, I’m not your prisoner here— and you don’t own me—I’m not your possession—I’m your…your student,” she said more offended than angry…and a little scared. Now that she was at Bear Towne and thousands of miles away from Uncle Pix, no one would help if Asher went allBeauty and the Beastand locked her away. She gave him a good old-fashioned, angry, Irish stare.
“You provoke many things inside me, Hailey,” he said, his eyes flashing, and she could tell he struggled to keep his voice even as he clenched his fist.
Hailey’s heart raced, but she stood her ground, betting that despite what Giselle had told her, Asher would never hurt her no matter how she behaved. She could probably prove it.
“I will protect you, but you mustn’t defy me,” he warned, and she met his intimidating gaze.
“Iwilldefy you, Asher. If I need to.”
Asher squinted briefly, but then the fire inside his eyes died.
Dipping her chin, Hailey studied her feet as her heart rate came down.
“I can handle this place. I’ve already proven that I can escape a killer in-between, right?” she said, her eyes dancing around the tunnel. “I mean, I’ve survived for nineteen years. I think I can handle four more.”
“You had five Guardians for nineteen years,” he told her.
She furrowed her brow for a moment before realizing he must mean her uncles.
“And now I have you,” she countered.
That made him smile.
“Don’t ever lock me away, Asher,” she said slowly, stealing a glance at him as they approached the stairwell to Eureka, and he seemed to be thinking about it.
“You would forgive me in time,” he concluded without looking at her.
Hailey shook her head. He needed to stop this. Now. There was no way she’d ever belong to anyone.
“No, I don’t think I would,” she said, sounding appalled. She looked him up and down as she gathered her courage. “And I wouldneverlove you.”
Nauseous, she turned on her heel and trudged up the stairs.
Asher stared after his girl, furious, remorseful, alarmed, and altogether unsure if he would allow her the freedom to defy him again. It was as if he had had her in the palm of his hand not ten minutes ago only to let her slip from his grip.
He wanted her back. He wanted her happy. And he had no idea how to manipulate her—she simply would not obey him.
These circumstances—thesefeelings—required a keen understanding, which he did not possess. But he knew who did, and he appeared inside the office of his friend, Simeon Woodfork, hell bent on finding answers.
“Ah, Asher,” Simeon said as soon as he noticed the Envoy standing pensively at the window inside his office. “How can I be of service?”
“The girl is…” Asher struggled to choose the proper word. “…difficult,” he decided.
“Hm? Yes. All the good ones are,” Simeon remarked in an off-hand way.
“Explain this to me.”
Simeon straightened up. “I’m sorry, Asher, what would you like me to explain?” he asked, and Asher left the window, preferring instead to peruse the professor’s collection of books.
“I cannot control her, Simeon,” he said flatly and his eyes found the title they’d sought. Pulling it off the shelf, he skimmed a page near the center of the book.
Simeon clutched his chest.
