Page 19 of Bound By Love
“There were plenty of things I could have done; I made the wrong choice. At the time, it was a relief. I’d been fighting my increasing urge to kill since reaching maturity, and I was glad to stop.”
She didn’t know what to say to this admission. “Saber—”
“I’m not going to talk about this anymore. I don’t regret my choices or despise myself for them. It’s a part of my past, and the humans who killed my mother deserved to die. Now, you asked what happened with the demons and have your answer. Rehashing more of the past won’t do any good.”
“Okay. If you ever want to talk about it more, we will, but I won’t mention it again. And I don’t hate you; I couldneverhate you.”
Saber wasn’t so sure, but she knew the worst of him and still hadn’t run screaming. It was more than he deserved from this life, but he would protect her witheverythinghe had.
He closed his eyes as his fingers tightened around hers. When he opened them again, the red was gone, but his sorrow remained.
Caro regretted pushing him on this. Was talking about it the way to help him care for others again?
She had no idea, but didn’t the experts say talking about things was the way to heal? Then why did she feel so awful? And why did he look anything but relieved to have gotten this off his chest?
His eyes flickered to her before going over her head once more. “It’s time for you to rest.”
Caro turned away from him, but before she could open the door, his next words stopped her. “I am sorry, Caro. I shouldn’t have told you to fuck off.”
Tears burned her eyes as she turned back to him. “I shouldn’t have called you an asshole.”
A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Iaman asshole, but I don’t remember you saying that.”
Caro chuckled. “You’re notalwaysan asshole, and you weren’t there to hear it.”
“That’s only become true recently, and it’s because of you.”
Her heart melted, and she stepped closer to kiss his cheek. “Thank you for apologizing, but if you ever talk to me like that again, I’ll kick your nuts into your throat again.”
Saber winced, and his nuts ached from the reminder of her last blow to them.
“Also, please don’t walk away from me again. You can’t storm away from every discussion and argument we have. We might never see each other,” she said.
Saber laughed. “I can stop doing that.”
Bending, he swept her into his arms and carried her into the apartment.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Caro spentthe next week working on the second set of swords. Things with Brie and Saber mostly continued the way they had from the beginning, except now they occasionally exchanged small talk. They discussed the changing leaves, the weather, and how the swords were coming along.
And by occasional small talk, it was usually Brie who spoke, while Saber grunted, but sometimes he offered a few words in response. They hadn’t discussed what he revealed to her about the Savages and children; she wouldn’t bring it up again and doubted he would.
She still wasn’t sure if she’d done the right thing by pushing him to reveal such a horrible memory. Guilt festered inside her, but Saber didn’t seem to hold it against her.
Since then, Brie had been makingveryslow and steady progress with him. It was like pulling teeth to get him to interact with her, but the woman was as stubborn as her brother. And she would have to be if she was going to get anywhere with him.
Caro pretended to focus on hammering the blade as, in between each blow, she caught bits of their conversation.
“It’s getting cold here fast,” Brie said as she rubbed her arms.
“Hmm,” Saber grunted.
Caro tried not to roll her eyes as she lost the next few words to more hammering. By the time she could hear them again, they’d stopped speaking. Saber was the most maddening man she’d ever encountered, but she’d decided to stay out of their relationship from now on.
She’d said her two cents, and he’d told her where he wanted her to stand on it, and she would honor that. Even if it killed her to watch this awkward, heartbreaking scene unfold day after day, she would keep her mouth shut.
She’d considered asking him to take this somewhere else. He may not want to talk to Brie, but she didn’t have to watch this torture every day.
