Her incredulous look is one I’ll treasure forever. I’ve stunned the Librarian speechless, and it’s an adorable look on her.
“Jasper… I can’t leave.”
“No. You can’t,” I acknowledge. “I thought of a way around that, but you’re not ready, and that’s okay. Just…promise me you’ll tell me if that changes?”
“You can’t wait for me,” she objects. “You shouldn’t even be trying to date me. You’re alive and?—”
“So are you.” I place the little box on a side table, taking another step down into the gloom.
“You should date women your age?—”
“I don’t want them.” I want her. Only her. She’s been stuck in my brain since I woke up and saw her pretty eyes for the first time. “A third of my lifetime has been spent in a cage. I dinnae remember the last decade. I’m not about to waste time chasing other women when I know full well the only one for me is right here.”
Again, I reach for those stupid memories, and a spear of pain lances through my temple in response. Stifling my groan, I descend until I can’t see her in case my expression gives me away. The last thing I need now is her pity on top of her rejection.
“I’ll be down with the others.”
Her soft sigh and the thump of her head hitting the pillows haunt my retreating steps. I can’t help listening intently, praying for her to call out, to ask me to come back.
She never does.
Thirteen
Kyrith
I’m loitering, hovering in the walls as I watch the heirs arrive. My pride is raw and stinging from Jasper’s rejection, and like this, with my feelings muted slightly, I can appreciate the ridiculousness of that reaction.
I’ve turned them down and pushed them away before, but being on the receiving end was different. He did the right thing, so why did every step he took away from me feel so wrong? Why did I feel like such a bitch? Worst of all, why was it that all it took for me to give up my resistance was Jasper coming across mein flagrante?
Ugh. I know why, and lying to myself is stupid.
I’m hopelessly attracted to all of the heirs, even the ones I shouldn’t be. It’s gotten so out of hand that I was imagining Lambert’s hands as I played with my breasts, and Dakari’s dark eyes peering up at me from between my legs when I stroked my clit. In my head, Jasper crooned sweet words in my ear and told me how pretty I looked as I was about to come…
And then the real Jasper turned up unannounced in mybedroom. I couldn’t even blame him for it, because the Arcanaeum’s complicity in the scheme was obvious.
The building is ridiculously invested in my non-existent sex life. It’s the wingwoman I didn’t ask for and can’t get rid of.
“Are you going to avoid us all night?” Dakari asks, drawing my attention back to where he leans against the doorframe. The door to the room is shut, hiding him from the occupants within, who are currently already arguing about which team is better placed to win the match.
Damn. Caught. How did he know?
“I was just…” I trail off, failing to find an excuse. “I needed a moment.”
I manifest beside him, and he wastes no time taking my hand in his, forcing me solid as he examines the bracelet on my wrist with a critical eye.
His lip quirks, and he accepts my evasion for what it is.
“This from Jasper?” he asks.
“Yes.”
He can’t talk; he got me a book. I’m accepting all bribes equally, which is a form of neutrality… Right?
I debate taking the silver chain off all over again, but it’s so delicate, and the tiny beads along it are so pretty—like an ocean trapped in glass—that I don’t have the heart to pretend it meant nothing and shut it away in a box.
It’s a beautiful gift, and a thoughtful one. Much like Dakari’s and Lambert’s, and even North’s.
There’s a deep, long look shared between us, and I huff out a breath in response.
