Her muscles eased the slightest bit, and I almost laugh-cried when she awkwardly patted my back.
“I will see her again. We’re twins.”
She made no sense to me, but I didn’t care.
She was a friend I never knew I needed.
I pulled back, and Ronen instantly touched my face, his shadows absorbing what little blood remained there.
“You bluffed her,” I said.
“Yes. And now I know where to allocate most of our patrols.”
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Lucille
Istood outside Aspen and Oliver’s door, my hand hovering over the doorknob.
I had words left unsaid.
Grime, sweat, and dungeon stench still clung to me. I needed to bathe. I needed to process the last twenty-four hours. I really needed to go to the library.
But first…
I needed Aspen to know.
I opened the door with a clammy hand. The fireplace crackled, a soft glow casting shadows over the chairs and settee. Books I hadn’t seen before rested in a pile on a small table.
“Aspen?”
“I’m in here,” he replied from their bedroom.
I walked to the cracked door, hesitating before pushing it open. The hinges slowly creaked, sounding awfully loud.
I stood planted in the doorway. I’d been in their room before, but suddenly it felt different.
Wrong.
Aspenlay propped against a pile of pillows. He lowered the book in his hand, his bright blue eyes matching the color of Hadrian’s flaming orbs as he rested beside him.
Aspen still seemed different.
He sat straighter. The empty, heavy gaze I’d come to hate appeared lightened by energy and life. Even the dark circles beneath his eyelashes had eased.
I hadn’t wanted to hope earlier in the arena.
But now?
Something had clearly changed within him.
My tongue knotted in my mouth, terrified I’d ruin this progress.
“Lucille?”
I dropped my head and fiddled with my fingers, contemplating leaving.
