Page 7 of Infernal Bonds

“No. I don’t want to ruin what we have.” I let go of her hand, slumping against the headboard.

She made a face as if she wanted to say something, but shook her head.

“I’m just happy to be by his side, you know? Like, I couldn’t imagine living my life without him, and I always thought that one day I would have to let him go. Now, it’s different.”

“Why?”

“You’re here.”

Her face scrunched. “How does my being—”

We both looked up when Ash knocked on the doorframe.

“Brought you both water and cookies.” He crossed to the bed, handed me a bottle of water, gave Rae hers, and placed the container of cookies on the bed.

Rae took a sip of her water and stared at me.

It didn’t seem like she was going to make me talk about it in front of Ash. Did I want to? I trusted him as much as I trusted her.

I gripped the bottle in both hands and took a slow breath. “He won’t leave me with you here because you’re our Nyrith.”

Ash’s brows rose, but he remained silent.

“I know you think he doesn’t like you, but you’re wrong. If he really hated you, he wouldn’t still speak to you. At least not after we found a way back home. If he didn’t have a reason, he wouldn’t bother.”

Ash sat on the edge of the bed and put his hand on Rae’s knee over the cover. “Zeke’s right. Cyn doesn’t waste time on people he doesn’t like. You’ll see.”

She frowned. “That’s not important.”

“No?”

“No.” She set her bottle on the nightstand and turned to me. “You said he won’t leave you because I’m here. I don’t believe that. I mean, I don’t know how things are between y’all, but it doesn’t seem true. I don’t think he’d leave you even if I weren’t here.”

Ash shook his head. “You couldn’t pry him away from you if you tried. You know that.”

I shrugged. Sometimes I wondered if he only stuck with me because he thought he needed to.

Ash opened the bowl and held it out to me until I took a cookie.

Staring at the cookie in my hand, I said, “You know I have feelings for him, don’t you?”

“I don’t know anything. But if you’re asking if I think you have feelings for him, then yes, I do.”

“Rae knows.”

Ash angled his head. “And what do you think of that?”

“She’s right.” I took a bite of the cookie to avoid saying more.

“He says Cyn likes women.”

Ash studied me. “Well, we all know that. He isn’t discreet about it.”

Rae’s nose wrinkled.

“He’s not crude and public with women. It’s just understood that he is open to trading pleasure for blood.”

Rae lifted a hand. “Yeah, I don’t think I wanna hear more about that.” She dropped her hand. “I’ll just ask this… Does he only make these trades with women?”