Page 46 of Wolf of Ashes
He’s lying on his back and I catch my breath as my head ends up on his shoulder, my thighs pressed against his left side, my upper leg sliding a little across his hip. My left arm curves across his chest. If I were to adjust my position a little—move my upper arm and leg across him—I could be said to have captured him within the blanket instead of the other way around.
His blue eyes glimmer with sapphire light, a cold, glittering expression as he peers down at me from beneath his lashes. The longer I hold his gaze, the darker the light in his eyes becomes, a dilation of his pupils, and I sense the twitch of his fingers before he reaches beneath the blanket to wrap his hand around my upper arm.
His fingers are warm and his hold is light. Soft enough to be interpreted as a caress if I wanted to believe that was his intention.
I allow a small smile to creep across my face as we lie like that for a long moment.
Then I speak. Quietly. But I choose my words carefully. “The name I want for myself meansConqueror. But I haven’t earned that name yet.”
He seems to chew over this for a second. “Conqueror,” he murmurs, his eyes darkening even further. “It will be a fitting name for you.”
For the first time since he wrapped the blanket around us, he releases my gaze, his focus dropping to my lips. “What makes you think you haven’t already earned it?”
My jaw clenches. “I will deserve that name when I avenge my mother.”
He makes a humming sound in the back of his throat as if he disagrees, his hand softening even further around my arm, his thumb brushing slowly back and forth across my skin. I fight the tingling sensation and the way I’m suddenly acutely conscious of the delicious press of his thigh against my pelvis.
“You conquered your cage,” he says. “You conquered the Serene Commander at the Cathedral—”
I growl at him. “With no help from you.”
It’s unsettling to me that he didn’t step into that fight.
“It wasn’t my battle,” he replies calmly, seeming unmoved by my indignation. “You didn’t need my help.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’d never seen me in a fight before then, so you couldn’t have known that at the time.”
The play of his fingers is now like a dance down my arm to my elbow, where it rests near my hip. “I wanted to see what you could do. It’s important for me to know when to step in and when to let you fight your own battles.”
I recall the way he twitched when it had looked like the Serene Commander’s blade was going to cleave my head from my shoulders. “So youwouldhavestepped in if I’d really been in trouble.”
He gives me a disarming smile. “Maybe.”
I huff at him. “That’s a yes.”
“Well, of course it’s a yes.” His lips are suddenly very close to mine. “You can’t take your revenge if you’re dead.”
“No, I can’t,” I say, studying him closely. “Which is why it’s even more curious to me that you hesitated to help me.”
His lips part, as if he’s about to say something. Then they press together. “I knew she wasn’t going to kill you.”
My brow slowly furrows. He is so very close to me now that the curve of his lips is blurring in my vision. “You sound awfully fucking sure about that.”
“You saw an enemy, but I saw more,” he says. “There was soot on her face. Her energy was low. Her home had sustained considerable damage.” The keeper pierces me with his now very-black eyes. “She only fought us because she was frightened by our presence.”
My scowl fades a little.Was she frightened?
Well, if she was, her fear was warranted. But even so, I disagree with the conclusion the keeper drew from the angel’s fear.
My upper arm snakes forward so I can catch his arm even as he holds mine. My small hand barely makes it around his forearm, but I hold on tightly as my voice becomes a growl once more. “Fear and desperation make creaturesmoredangerous, not less.”
He doesn’t deny it, his black eyes glowing down at me with a brightness that feels like he’s tearing at my soul.
It fucking hurts.
Or… it would… if I had a soul.
He nods slowly. “I made you a promise,” he says, his voice low. “For which you paid the ultimate price.”
