I hid my smile behind my hand as Sam tried and failed not to be affected by Oliver’s goofy charm.
“And they thought you were evil,” Oliver said, poking at Sam’s twitching lip.
“Evil?”
“Never mind.” He waved it away. “But we are going in the wrong direction. Luce wants to head to the library. We have days to save and prepare Hell, so we need to do some research and get the gang together.”
Sam’s face flushed, and he quite literally looked like he was going to blow. Either from the news or the fact that his patient was trying to make demands.
“I swear you’re going to give me gray hairs,” Sam muttered softly, then louder, “If that’s the case, I need to get back to the lab. After talking with Aspen and Ronen about your attack, I took his blood and need to see how it interacts with the other samples. And I refuse to leave you to your own devices and risk destroying all the progress I’ve made on your foot. The draughts were meant to help your pain, not make you think you had superpowers.”
“But I do have pow…” Oliver trailed off at Sam’s glare.
Watching them tugged at something in my chest. Oliver had found his match. The serious to his goofy. The steady to his chaos. A male who would hunt him down and most likely chain him to a table in his lab if Sam’s glare was anything to go by, if only to make sure Oliver healed.
I couldn’t be happier for him.
I ruffled Oliver’s hair quickly. “You two go to the lab. I’ll meet up with the rest of thegang,and we can reconvene later.”
Sam’s glare melted into a relieved nod, and Oliver only looked half disappointed.
I backtracked to Aspen and Oliver’s room, planning to tell Aspen about the dream-walk I’d had with his mother, and found a note tacked to their door.
Lucille,
You ripped out a piece of me last night by telling me to leave you like that. But why would I think I deserved to hold you, help you, protect you, when I chose not to do it from the very beginning?
Etan has always been a source of fear for me—a past that scarred me and painted me with bloody names. Yet if I had known that a stubborn, beautiful, unrelenting female would walk into my life and show me what true strength was, what it meant to go through such hardship and still persevere in the face of it, to understand how thoroughly she’d change me, I would’ve told you. I regret how long it took me to overcome my fears.
I want you to know that I didn’t accept the bond just to save you, but because you gave me the courage I needed to become a better male. For you. Myself. Maybe even Hell. After realizing that, I knew you were it for me. And I would rather be permanently bound to the female I love—even if she hates me—than leave myself available for others who I know would never compare to her.
With all that said, this letter was originally intended to inform you that Aspen is with Alexei and me in the pit. If we’re going to war soon, I need to ready our militarythe best I can, and he has experience. But I’m sending a few others to help you with your research on the Spinewalkers.
—Yours, for all the days I breathe, and every silence after,
Ronen
His honestyand vulnerability seeped into the lingering fissures of doubt, filling them with light, hope, and… frustration. At him.
I carefully folded the letter and tucked it into my pocket to save for when I gave him a piece of my mind.
I strode toward the library, wondering who Ronen would’ve sent to help me research and commending him for knowing my habits.
This morning, the Doors of Moirai’s mosaic revealed the six-pointed star we’d found painted beneath Anya’s bed. I hadn’t thought to ask her about it before, but now it seemed important that I did. And what did that sixth rune mean?
Maybe Cato would know.
I entered the library and blinked just to make sure what I was seeing wasn’t a mirage.
MJ, Ichi, and Zera sat at my table, each with a book open in front of them.
Ichi and Zera stood when I approached. MJ stayed seated, only lifting her head in acknowledgment. Mocking humor danced in her fiery amber eyes when Ichi and Zera bowed, murmuring the word, “Princess.”
I raised my hands. “Please, don’t. Sit.”
Ichi bowed again because she couldn’t help herself. Zera slumped back into her wooden chair like the effort of standing had sucked the energy from her. Her blonde pixie cut fell into her face, covering the puffy redness beneath her lashes and reminding me of her loss.
“I’m so sorry, Zera.”
