Page 105 of Bound By the Sleeper’s Harp

“I’m not taking you to your apartment⁠—”

“Yes,” I hissed. “You are.”

His mouth opened⁠—

“In case you missed it, Luke is in the back of an ambulance on the way to…wherever. He’s in custody now. I’m going back to my apartment. I need… I need some space right now.”

And to be with Vivi.

Bastian’s shoulders fell. He watched me, nostrils flaring, like he was trying to get a read on me from my scent alone. “Fine,” He bit out. “That’s fine… Whatever you need, baby girl.”

Knowing what I was to him, I understood that he was exerting a great deal of effort to give me the independence I demanded. Did that win him any bonus points? No. Instead, I scoffed at the pet name, then blew out a breath. Some things weren’t worth my energy.

Everything afterward happened in a blur. He stood with me while I gave my statement, spoke with several people who came and went. At some point, we were free to go. We drove back to his place in absolute silence. He opened his mouth several times, then shut it, shaking his head. I didn’t care. Whatever he wanted to say, he could keep it to himself.

Mates?!

I thought back through everything in greater detail, trying to figure out what had happened. Maybe I’d been blind. Maybe I should have put the pieces together and come to this conclusion. In hindsight, it was all there, in bold lettering.

My fingers clenched and unclenched between my thighs, where I’d wedged them to keep them still. How long had he known? This entire time? Since spotting me in the coffee shop? I bet he’d had a nice laugh about it, knowing we were tied together in some way, and knowing what it meant for him—that he’d be tethered to me, a human, part of the race he hated so much for what they’d done to him.

When we entered his house, I rushed to my room, closing the door. I refused to cry. Not here. Not where he could smell it. So instead, I threw my things together, filling my suitcase. I was too incensed to check if I’d packed everything, but fuck it. Part of me thought this wouldn’t be forever, the other part, the frightened part, didn’t want to face any of this ever.

I emerged into the main part of the house.

“I packed up Teddy’s things already,” he said, his voice flat. His eyes darted over me, searching. When I passed him, I noticed the way his hand lifted to reach for me before clenching into a fist and dropping.

I ignored it.

He stopped in the doorway to the garage, Teddy’s cat carrier in his hand. “Baby girl, isn’t, can’t…can’t we just talk about this? I’m sorry. I should have told⁠—”

“No!” I rounded on him, holding up a hand. “I told you I didn’t want to discuss this right now, and I don’t. I need… Fuck! I don’t even know what I need, except that I need to be away from you right now.”

"And you think I'll let you go so easily?" His voice pitched low, some of the goblin bleeding through as his eyes blackened. Then he froze, horror flashing across his features, like he realized what he'd just said. His eyes shifted back to green. "Fuck. Elle, I didn't mean—that's not—" He ran a hand through his hair looking stricken. "I'm sorry. That's not who I want to be."

“Good.” My shoulders relaxed.

He gave a stiff nod and deposited Teddy in the back seat before climbing into his truck.

I shot Vivi a quick series of texts on our way back into the city. When he parallel parked, she was already at the apartment, standing outside on the sidewalk. Bastian reached for the door.

“No,” I said. “I’ve got it. Vivi will help. You don’t need to get out.”

His expression faltered. It was brief, but I saw the pain there, the uncertainty. A spear of guilt shot straight for my heart, but I ignored it. I was resolved in this. Bastian had kept something monumental from me, something I deserved to know. The professor Miller incident was one thing, but this?

I opened the door without another look, grabbed my suitcase, and passed it off to Vivi. Then I got Teddy’s things, gave Bastian a final resigned look, and slammed the door to his truck.

Vivi’s own things were waiting in the atrium. She didn’t have the new key to our apartment, so she followed me up, carrying Teddy’s things and a few of her own. We managed to get everything into the elevator with minimal words.

I unlocked the door.

The apartment was flawless. My insides squeezed. The last time I'd been here, days ago, was with Bastian. I looked at the television he'd fixed, remembering how I'd watched him work, unable to pull my gaze away. The memory brought tears to my eyes. I was losing it, seconds from imploding.

As soon as I stepped inside and set my things down, I crumpled to the floor, sobbing. Most of it was because of Bastian’s dishonesty, but not all of it. Some of it came from my drained adrenaline, from Luke’s manhandling, from the fear I’d felt when he’d had his fingers wrapped around my throat, from the blade that had been moments from slicing my neck wide open. It all crashed down in a torrent of tears.

“Oh, Elle!” Vivi dropped her things and came to her knees beside me, wrapping me in her arms. We’d been in a similar position two years ago, when she’d brought me home from the hospital. When I’d cried for hours on end, and we’d curled up in her bed to watch sitcom reruns.

“He—he lied to me,” I managed between gasps. “I thought… I’m just… Why would he do that?!”