Page 73 of The Bonds of Indigo

“You told me you had to take me home,” I murmur. “I want to know what that meant. I want to understand where you took me.”

Chapter 20

Why did I let him in?

Why am I allowing him to… touch me?

But the real question—the one that has no reasonable answer other than I’ve finally lost my ever-loving mind is: Why do I want this?

As he slides the razor—carefully, almost gently—up my leg and stops at my knee, I swallow hard. “It’s complicated.”

He doesn’t look away from what he’s doing. The hand not holding the blade shifts between my ankle, my calf, and the back of my knee. His palm engulfs every part of me it touches, and I hate how easily my heartbeat threatens to quicken.

“Seems I attract complicated people.” He leans forward to rinse the razor under the running water, then returns to continue his slow, deliberate strokes. “Try, at least. I’m really not stupid.”

Still doubting that…

Rolling my lips together, I brace my hands on the sides of the tub and lean back slightly. “Mundanes do this thing called meditation. I assume you know what that is.”

“I was once one of them. Live among them. I’m aware. Dylox do it too, you know.”

“Yeah, but they call it something else. Focus training, or… whatever.” I take a breath. “We have something similar. It’s called the Veil of Delirium. It’s a spell.”

He shifts closer, turning my leg to reach the side. “You had time to gather ingredients for a spell?” His tone is flat, skeptical.

“Hexborn need ingredients. Yldarwrights don’t.” I keep my gaze on the wall behind him. “Vendra grants us the ability to cast without them. As long as we understand the spell’s structure, we just draw the rune in our palm and activate it.”

He pauses for half a second. “What did you write it with?”

“Dirt.” And my fucking tears, you asshole.

Gods, just remembering the dead look in his eyes terrifies me. I knew something was wrong the moment he shoved me—hard enough that I actually fell. He didn’t react when I screamed his name, Butcher.

But when I screamed Kayn…

He was gone, and whatever pull that Gravemourn had on him… it was absolute. They’re the creatures that drag souls into the Beyond, and while Death governs them, she can’t be everywhere at once to stop them.

“Alright,” he says, voice low. “So you took me into this Veil of Delirium.”

“No. That’s just the name of the spell.” My fingers curl tight against the porcelain tub. “I took you, quite literally, home. You saw where I… my family is from.”

A thoughtful hum rolls from his chest. He looks up at me, hands pausing mid-motion, and I hold my breath without meaning to. “The moon looked… strange. Where are you from?”

The moment I wet my lips, his eyes drop to them. “Not here. Not on Everhaven.”

“Where?”

“It’s hard to explain. It doesn’t matter.” I deflect with practiced ease. “Are you done with my leg?”

He drops his chin but keeps his eyes on me before inspecting his work. His hand glides from my knee down to my ankle, and Vendra save me, my chest tightens painfully.

“Yeah,” he murmurs. “Now the other.”

He sets my foot down gently and leans across me to gather water. Each time he moves, I catch the scent of whisky and pine—sharp, warm, and unfairly intoxicating.

As he wets my left leg and works the soap along it, he asks, “Why can’t you shave properly?”

My shoulders sag. “Next question.”