“Way to kick someone who’s already down,” she muttered before shifting nervously. “So… what do I do to… open the door?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” I smiled teasingly. “Maybe start with ‘I’m sorry I stabbed you when you confessed your feelings to me’?”
She clenched her teeth loudly as she gave me an unreadable look. “Right… piece of cake.”
She looked at Nate again, before turning to her bag and rummaged around for a moment. She finally stopped when she found a small bucket.
“I’ll get some water and clean off the blood,” she decided.
I guarded him until she returned, noticing that Lionel and Jaden had taken the next bathing shift, and Eve and Faelin were back.
Ashley placed the bucket next to Nate, exhaling deep as if it had cost her everything to bring it.
“You’re drowning him next?” Malakai teased, sneaking up behind us.
“I—” Ashley was startled, baring her teeth at him. “No, I’m cleaning him off!”
“While he’s unconscious? That’s rather indecent.”
“Wha—” she stammered, retreating “Not like that, stupid demon!”
Malakai chuckled. “Glad your energy’s back to normal,firecracker.”
Ashley stilled. “Did… did he just give me a nickname? I kind of like it…”
Malakai rolled his eyes. “Let’s go, kitten. It’s our turn to bathe soon.”
“What do you mean? I’m going with Ashley.” I cocked a brow at him.
“Huh? No, I’m not going,” Ashley shrugged.
“What?”
“Too bad,” Malakai grinned, but really, he wasn’t sorry at all.
CHAPTER
21
The lake looked black under the bright sunlight as if it refused to belong to this world. Ash colored sand stretched around it, clinging to my skin and to the blood that had dried beneath my nails.
Malakai moved beside me, quiet as ever. The air around him always felt alive, threads of faint red light pulsing beneath his skin, like veins.
Blood magic, his favorite weapon and thus his favorite toy.
“You’re quiet,” I said, glancing at him.
He didn’t bother looking. “So are you, kitten.”
His voice was low, the edge of a smile in it, always smug.
Once we arrived at the shoreline, I crouched by the water, dipping my hands. It was freezing, so cold it hissed against my skin. I hesitated.
Beside me, I heard him step into the lake, the sound of water shifting around his steady and slow movements making my heart stutter. He never rushed anything, not even this.
“Don’t drown,” I murmured without turning.
“Would you save me if I did?”
