“Beauty in the darkness, babygirl.”
She nodded and held out her hands, studying her palms like she was trying to memorize every line etched in them.
When she finally spoke again, I had to dip my head low just to catch her whisper.
“Do you think I’m evil, Hudson? Like the Darkwinter fae?”
My heart cracked in half at the pain in her eyes.
“Evil isn’t a bloodline, Haley. It’s a choice we make. Don’t always feel that way for some, I suppose, but it’s still a choice. Darkwinter fae… Hell, they’re just trying to make their way in this world, protect what’s theirs. Same as Keradoc. Same as you and me.”
“Yeah, but the things they have to do to protect what’s theirs? To save the people or places they love? Maybe that’s where the evil comes in.”
“Does it?” I ran a hand across my beard and shrugged. “Then sign me up for team evil, because I’m telling yourightnow. Anyone comes out here—soldier, gargoyle, Keradoc himself—and threatens your life? I’m taking that fucker down. I willnothesitate.” I tucked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up, waiting for her to meet my eyes again. “No one with love in their heart is evil, babygirl. But all of us are capable of doing evil shit. Beyond that, I can’t make a blanket call. None of us can.”
“So you’re saying there’s a chance I’m evil?”
“I’m saying it’s a word, a label. And it’s not up to you to decide—it’ll be written by your enemies, if it’s written at all. But if you really wanna know? No, babygirl. I don’t think you’re evil. Far as I’m concerned, you’re just… well, you’re the right amount of bad.”
She laughed and wiped away a tear. “I guess I can live with that.”
A cool breeze skated on through, making her shiver. I flexed my shoulders and let my wings unfurl, curling one around her to block the wind.
“You can do that?” she gasped. “Wings, even when you’re totally in human form?”
“It’s a partial shift, yeah. Not that great for actual flying—the human body isn’t made for it. Mostly I just use it to impress the ladies.”
“Well, it’s working.”
I laughed, but soon it faded away, the serious shit rising back up to the surface.
I had to tell her.
Now or never.
“Haley, there’s something I need you to know. That connection you feel? You’re right. I feel it too. From the first time I saw you walk into Saints and Sinners, and no, it wasn’t just ’cause of that hot little dress you had on.”
“Itwasa hot dress though, wasn’t it?”
I nodded, but I couldn’t stop to joke. This was too important. I had to get it out before I ran out of words.
“Gargoyles… We have mate bonds. And for whatever reason, the universe—or fate, or the stars, or whatever you want to call it? Something saw fit to make you mine. Mine to protect and guard. Mine to cherish. Mine to love. That don’t mean we have to… you know. Beinlove. But there’s the potential. Either way, the bond will tie us for life.”
“Mate bonds?” She looked up at me, her eyes wide, a smile tugging at her lips. “I’m your mate? As in, fated mate?”
“That’s one way to put it, yeah.”
“Is that how you were able to sense I was in trouble the night of the feast?”
“Sure was. And I suspect that’s how I got out of that cave, too. Your fear… I felt it through the bond. It just… it fuckingenragedme, babygirl. So one minute I was locked in stone, and the next thing I knew, I felt you—felt that panic. Something just exploded inside me, and suddenly the spell they’d used on me shattered. I shifted into my warrior form, ready to murder some motherfucker just to find my way back to you. And that’s just what I did.”
She held my gaze for so long, not saying a word, I thought maybe she was about to laugh. Or worse—cry. Or, worse yet, run back into the suite and lock my ass out here.
But then she just smiled up at me with her sweet Haley-smile, and said the one thing I didn’t even realize I needed to hear.
“Well, that’s fucking cool.”
Now, I laughed. “Cool? I tell you we have this mystical fated connection that may or may not lead to love, and you go with ‘cool?’ No questions, no denials, nothing?”
