Page 136 of May: Bloom & Bane

“You need to wake now, ash’kaela,” he murmurs reluctantly. “Sage’s knot is softening, and it will release soon.”

“And then?”

“And then you’re ním,” he growls. “The moment you’re free of him. It’s my turn.”

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“You said you can’t use your true form yet, right?”

“That’s right, ash’kaela. I can feel it stirring in my blood, but I’m not able to take over his body completely. Not yet.”

“Then…”

“Tell me?”

“Then I want to wait,” I say softly.

The darkness flares, the temperature dropping so low I shiver.

“You… you don’t want me?”

“What? No! Ash⁠—”

The cold intensifies, and the shadows recoil, pulling away from me at once.

“I understand,” he says. “I am monstrous compared to him.”

“Ashán, stop!” I call into the darkness. “That’s not what I meant.”

The shadows still, but they don’t come closer.

“Then what? What did you mean?”

“I want you,” I whisper. “But I want your body. Not Sage’s.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“You said drinking from me was important. Which means it’s also important to me. I want to share that moment with you, in your true form, no matter how monstrous it is.”

“You want to wait for me to shift?” he breathes. “Completely?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t even know what I’ll look like, Eden,” he rasps.

“ I don’t care.”

“What if I’m hideous?”

“Impossible.”

“It could take weeks. Months, even. And my rut⁠—”

“Will still be there when you do,” I say firmly. “And will probably feel even better when it’s in your own body.”

The darkness pulses, and his hope pours into my awareness.