I shot her a look, like,Do you really need to ask?Then patted the spot next to me.
She curled up beside me, tucking her legs up, but I grabbed her feet and pulled her legs across my lap. I liked having her close. Liked being able to keep in contact—made me feel better about all the things outside these walls trying to hurt her, like maybe I could actually keep her safe from some of them.
“I was out with those guys earlier,” she said, sipping her beer. “Trying to get some intel on Keradoc from Elian’s… friend. Gem?”
I nodded. Gem and I went way back, even before Saint was in the picture. I knew they’d gotten close during his time here, so if Saint thought we could trust her on this mission? Then I backed him. After all, she’d helped us get out of this place when my ass was on the line. I’d always be grateful for that.
“She seems smart,” Haley said. “Really knows her way around the streets, you know? I respect that.”
She gazed down into her beer bottle. Ran her thumb up and down the neck.
I tugged on a lock of her hair. Smirked at her when she finally looked up.
“What?I’m not jealous. I’m just… cautious. New people… It’s hard to trust, you know? Especially with something so important to me.”
Yeah, I couldn’t argue with her there. Trusting the wrong people had nearly cost me my life.
We sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the city outside—fighting, mostly. Glass shattering. Thunder in the distance, though it was muted compared to the rest.
When I looked over at her again, I found her staring at the tattoos on my chest, mesmerized.
I curled my arm and flexed, and the sweetest blush crept into her cheeks.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just… You’re covered. And they’re fucking incredible.” She reached for my shoulder, fingers hovering just over the tattoo that took up most of my upper arm—two daggers crossing beneath an eye. “May I? I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos. Well, that and scars. I kind of see them as two sides of the same coin. Scars are the stories of the things that happenedtous, things that were chosenforus. But tattoos are the stories we choose for ourselves. Both can be beautiful. A record of our lived experiences, you know?”
I leaned into her, and she brushed her fingers over my skin, making me shiver.
Her touch was… fucking indescribable.
The gray sweatpants suddenly seemed like a real bad choice.
But Haley wasn’t paying attention to the situation in my lap. She was tracing the lines of my tattoos—my stories. The daggers and the eye. The raven gryphon feather. The triple crescent moons. The fleur-de-lis I’d gotten when we’d first ended up in New Orleans. The weeping skull with its mouth full of roses.
Blood before roses,it said beneath.
“I’ve only got a couple of tattoos,” she said, and held out her wrist.
I ran my thumb along the writing tattooed there, bisecting the long, vertical scar. I’d noticed it that first day in Saint’s garden, but hadn’t been close enough to read it until now.
“This too shall pass,” she said, soft and slow, like maybe she needed to hear it again.
Haley sighed.
I swiped a thumb across her cheek, erasing the tear that’d slipped out.
“I got it after… the bathtub incident,” she said softly. “I wanted the reminder that pain like that doesn’t last forever. But over time, I started taking it as a reminder that peace and joy don’t last forever either. Maybe that sounds morbid, but I find it comforting. It makes me appreciate everything a whole hell of a lot more than I used to because I know nothing is guaranteed. Not love, not health, not money, not friendship. But that doesn’t make those things any less valuable, you know? In some ways, it feels evenmorevaluable because it’s fleeting, and…” She rolled her eyes and grinned. “Okay, I’m doing it again. Babbling your ears off.”
I smiled at her and shook my head, letting her know I didn’t mind. Matter fact, I could’ve listened to her babbling my ears off for another few centuries at least. Maybe even longer.
“Hudson, can I ask you something?”
I set my beer on the end table. Tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“How is it that we’re in the most dangerous place in the universe,” she said, “yet I’ve never felt so safe anywhere than I do right here? With you?”
I flexed my biceps for her again, and she laughed.
But just as quickly as the laugh had sprung up, it died, and a whole mess of tears spilled from her eyes.
