Page 128 of Silk and Sirens

“Surprise.” She tried to smile but winced when it pulled at the split in her lip. “You said you wanted a puppy.”

“Yeah, when I was a kid.”

The puppy yipped again, bouncing excitedly and trying to steal her attention. I glared at the little golden terror, but Aeris let out a soft, tired laugh.

“He likes you.”

I reached down and scooped the squirming puppy up with one hand, holding him against my chest. He immediately started licking my jaw with pure, chaotic joy, his tail wagging so hard his whole body shook.

“Yeah, well,” I muttered, scratching behind his ears, “he’s got shit taste.”

Putting the puppy back in the bedroom and then closing the door softly, I turned and sat beside the bath.

Aeris drew her knees up to her chest, the water sloshing around her. “How did you find me?” she asked quietly, my gaze dropping down to the marks on her knees.

“I had Lang install motion detection cameras on all your doors and windows.”

Her eyes widened, as if she thought I was joking.

“I was already heading to your house, but I put my foot down when I received the notification.”

“Wow, one point to the stalker,” she said dryly.

I smiled faintly as I reached out to brush wet strands of hair from her cheek with careful fingers, studying the fresh cut and the bruises already darkening along her jaw. Aeris flinched, like she wasn’t expecting the soft touch, and then frowned as if she was disappointed with herself.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I put you in danger.”

“No, I knew the risks. Of playing both sides and going against her. Selene would have made an example out of me sooner or later.” Aeris shook her head slowly. “She’d been keeping Renley at bay for so long, using him as a silent threat. I actually didn’t believe she’d ever use him … I was sure denying him was her favourite way of keeping him in line.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him,” I all but growled.

Aeris looked up and met my gaze. Her eyes were full of such pain, such sorrow and anger.

“Did he get away?”

I clenched my jaw, and then slowly nodded. Aeris had been the priority, so I hadn’t checked that when I put Renley down, he’d stayed down.

But it almost didn’t matter, because I had never been so sure of anything in my life when I said, “He’s never going to touch you again.”

Chapter 53

Aeris

Wrapping my arms tighter around my legs, I silently watched Caden move around the bathroom.

He hadn’t put on a shirt since he’d wrapped me in his, and I counted eight stitches, the slice down his side deeper than mine. “That’s going to scar,” I commented when he came to kneel beside me, this time holding a shampoo bottle.

“I have plenty of those,” he commented, gently lathering shampoo through my hair. I let him, not sure how to feel. I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh, whether sleeping for the next year would be an acceptable response to what had happened or if I should just suck it up and carry on.

Because that was what I usually did when something shit happened.

I remained silent as Caden continued to stoke through my hair, as if meticulously cleaning every strand. This close, I could see the faint silver scars scattered across his chest and shoulders, old, faded marks that were almost invisible from a distance.

“What happened?” I asked after a moment, deciding I didn’t want silence. Didn’t want to get lost in my head, in memories I’d rather carve out of my brain with a knife. “To you, I mean. The scars.”

Caden’s hands paused for the briefest second before continuing their slow, soothing rhythm. He didn’t answer right away, focusing instead on rinsing the shampoo from my hair with careful pours of warm water.

“I got into a lot of fights as a kid. Acting out, I guess.”