“This is all I’ve ever known.”
“Understood.”
“I love them.”
“You don’t have to explain it to me, Bale.”
“You don’t love the horsemen; I have many loved ones here, Wrath. They became my family when I had none. They’ve saved my life more times than I can count and sacrificed for me too. They trust me completely, and I trust them.”
“Even now?”
“Now that they know you’re my Chosen, theystilltrust me completely. Do you understand what that is like?”
“No,” I admitted because I’dneverexperienced such a thing. No one had ever trusted me, and I trusted them even less.
“Wrath—”
“I understand, Bale.”
I didn’t. Not at all. She had something here I’d never experienced in my life, and until now, I’d never yearned for it. But I found myself wanting that kind of faith and love in my life. What was I becoming?
Weak. You’re becoming weak.
But I didn’t feel weak. I felt… confused. Something I never was. I always knew what I wanted and got it. I went after the things they said I couldn’t have, and I got them. More often than not, I ended up destroying them for fun, but I didn’t want to destroy Bale. I wanted her to be happy, and I’d seen the way her eyes shone tonight as she sat with her friends, catching up on everything they’d experienced while apart.
“So what do we do?” she asked.
“Why do we have to figure out what we’re going to do now?”
“We can’t go on being enemies but not being enemies.”
“I’ve been alive a long time, and the one thing I’ve learned is there will always be questions, but there may never be answers to them.”
She tugged the coat closer around her. When she started to lift the hood, I stopped her with one word. “Don’t.”
Her hands stilled, and she didn’t pull it up; instead, she let it fall back into place. Snow fell from the material to spill around her, but she didn’t ask why I requested for her to leave it down. I suspected she was aware I had to see her.
“Are my friends safe around you?” she asked.
“That depends.”
A fine line appeared between her brows as she frowned at me. “On what?”
“Have you fucked any of them?”
Her eyebrows rose. “We both have pasts.”
“I’m aware of that, but I can’t… Iwon’tbe in the same room as someone from your past. I’ll kill them.”
Her gaze fell to the flames encircling my wrists. She licked her lips before her gaze darted away, and I caught the scent of her heightened arousal. My body reacted as if she were naked in front of me
“Have you?” I growled.
“No. I’ve never been with anyone here.”
“Good.”
Her eyes shot back to me. “And what about you with your tree nymphs?”
