Page 203 of Veil of Blood and Bone

I snuggle deeper under the weight of the blankets and form strange patterns in the dust on the floor from the dragging fringe. I stop when Wren fails to lift his cute ass off the couch.

“Oh. You really wanted an answer?”

I sniff. “Please. Go,” I tell him in the same careful cadence.

My hands twitch, and I tangle them in the quilt. They all flat out refused to leave but at least I can make them stay downstairs, outside...anywhere but in the room with me.

Wren holds my gaze as he stretches tall, all the time in the world at his disposal. His arms reach overhead and the tips of his fingers practically graze the ceiling.

Either it’s sagging, or he’s gotten taller in the last day.

Shadows seep from him, trail him, mark him. The tattoo, Perthro, stands a darker black against his pale skin, and my mouth goes dry.

Fate, chance, cycles.

He shifts forward on silent feet with his entire attention focused on me. I tilt my face automatically to hold his gaze when he stops in front of me. Near enough to breathe the same air. Not touching.

Awareness sends heat spiking down to my abdomen.

“It’s all real,” he says in an undertone. “And you’ll see soon, monster.”

Something pulls me toward him, something unbreakable. I want this man almost against my will.

“Sure. From the mouth of the master of illusions.”

This might be one of them. The resolve I’d felt in the car, to try and escape, trickles away the longer he stares at me. This has to be a trick.

There’s no way in hell for me to feel this bound, this tied, to a man like him. Man, hell. He isn’t even human.

Wren grins. “At least now you understand what we’re up against. There’s no value in taking the high road. If you play by the same rules as your enemy, they win.”

And if I trust him? If I go all in, and they finally realize, after all this time, I’m not acceptable? I’m not strong enough for them to stay. And I’m not strong enough to handle them leaving, either.

“I’m not the person you think I am,” I insist. “How many times do I have to say it?”

“Eventually you'll get sick of your voice, I imagine.”

His shadows aren’t touching me. They float in the air around us, a teasing torment.

“I’m not her.” I hold his gaze.

Wren angles his head. “Is that what bothers you?”

There has to be something in his expression, a dead giveaway to show his hand. But the mask is drawn on tight.

I jerk when his fingers pinch my chin, lifting my face to his for inspection. Why am I nervous?

“When you want to get out of your head, monster, I’ll be here. We’ll talk.” He dips his mouth to mine and pauses with inches to spare. “Whatever you want to share about your new self, I’ll eat it up. When you’re done avoiding it.”

He knows.

There is no sweet comfort with him. Of the three of them, he’ll be the first to figure it out, to notice. They are ready to stand up and fight. For Hellevi. For the person I might have been once.

Centuries ago.

I’ve got it wrong this time. Or they have. I’m not the lovable Valkyrie they fixated on.

I’m going to fuck this up the same way I fuck everything up. And then they’ll never want to love me again. They’ll leave the second I take a risk and open the gates around my heart.