Finally, in March, I don’t have any choice but to go to the barracks—it’s an emergency.
It’s early evening, but Fox must be tired because he’s already in bed with all the lamps off when I burst into his room. Obviously he wasn’t expecting me because he leaps out of bed, his eyes almost as wild as the first time we were together.
“It’s just me,” I say, holding one hand up in surrender.
Fox stares at me for a long moment, opening his mouth like he’s going to say something, only to close it again. Then, his gaze falls on the creature in my occupied arm. “What the fuck is that?”
“It’s a rabbit. What does it look like?” I kick his door shut with my foot and wave a hand to turn on the oil lamps, then cross the room to set the fluffy black and white rabbit I’mcarrying down on Fox’s bed. “There you go,” I croon, petting the rabbit softly. “You’re okay now.”
Fox makes a strangled choking sound, and I glance over my shoulder at him. He’s backed up as far as he can go across the room like the rabbit might be contagious.
“Calm down,” I begin
Recovering from his initial horror, Fox finds his voice again. “Get that fucking rodent off my bed!”
“It’s okay, he didn’t mean it,” I croon to the rabbit.
He makes a growling sound which I take to mean: “Like hell I didn’t.”
I straighten up, hands on my hips, and glare at him. “She’s hurt! Look, her ear is bleeding, see? I think a wolf was chasing her.”
His ice-blue eyes widen, and he looks away from the rabbit for the first time since I entered. “A wolf? Where?”
“In the garden.”
“A wolf couldn’t get into the garden without someone noticing.”
I shrug. “Well, it wasn’t there anymore, but I found this poor thing cowering under a rosebush. She’s trembling, look!”
Fox looks at the rabbit, still frowning. “It’s a rabbit. They always tremble.”
“Don’t be so dismissive.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose, looking pained. “Why did you bring it here?”
“Well, my animal cage is occupied by some injured birds at the moment, and coming here was obviously the closest option—don’t look at me like that! This was an emergency, of course I would bring the rabbit to the closest safe location.”
Fox drags a hand down his face and growls low in the back of his throat. The rabbit goes suddenly tense, as if sensing danger, and I pet her furry head. “Shhh. It’s okay. He’s not that scary.”
Fox glares at me. “You’re not planning to keep it in here, are you?”
“Of course not—” he looks slightly relieved, but his face falls again as I finish. “—I was planning to keep her in that big room down the hall we use for meetings sometimes. Hardly anyone ever goes in there, so she’ll be perfectly safe until her ear heals.”
Fox looks agitated, like he’s going to argue, but then sighs. He shakes his head, obviously resigned. “Fine. Do whatever you want. Just get it off my bed.”
I scoop up my rabbit. “Fine.”
“Fine,” he echoes, sounding deeply annoyed. He pauses for a long moment, then sucks in a breath. “Aurelia?”
I pause, just outside the still-open door. “What?”
“When you put that thing in the other room…are you coming back?”
I huff an exasperated sigh. “Yes. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Did you know Kastian has a soul-bond?” I ask one spring night.
Fox turns his head to the side and looks at me, eyebrows raised. “What?”
