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Lassiter pictured the man and the woman, their sorrow a tangible weight they dragged with them wherever they went. “They had nothing of material wealth. I tried to get them to keep it all. I mean, they needed the money to set themselves up.”
When his voice got rough, he arched back and tried to hide his emotions by stretching his spine. “One night, they took off. I came in for the start of my shift at the shelter, and they were gone… they’d left the jesses behind, though. In a shoebox with my name on it.”
As Rahvyn murmured something, he looked at her. “Their most prized possessions became mine, and I vowed, if I ever got married, I would wear them.”
It was so easy to picture Rahvyn in a traditional human wedding gown, standing up with him in front of Wrath as they took their vows.
“The jesses were stolen,” he heard himself say. “I shouldn’t have kept them at the shelter, and I blame myself. I tried to find them for years, even though that was stupid. There were so many people in and out of the church, most of whom were good, honest folk, but clearly not every one of them. It hurts, even after all this time.”
“Oh, Lassiter, how terrible.”
“Human goodness coexists with cruelty, both of the casual and the conniving kind.” He shook his head. “I went out and bought gold chains afterward. Wore them for years as a punishment and a reminder that things need to be kept safe.”
He thought of the satchel he’d thrown into the view of the valley. He would have loved to wear the original set with her, he really would have. Or his own, he supposed, although it wasn’t the same if you’d bought something like that yourself.
It was the gift from the man and woman, more than the intrinsic value of the gold, that had made the necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and chains so priceless.
“Anyway, enough of that.” He forced a smile. “Let’s talk about something else or let you rest.”
But his mood had landed like a boulder between them, and it wasn’t just about him playing peek-a-boo with a sad part of his past. He had a lot of regrets tonight—
“You did not ask me to help the King,” Rahvyn said abruptly. “You should not feel as badly as you do.”
“So you can read my mind, huh.” He smiled a little, but not because he was about to yuck it up. It was more like how much worse could he feel? “I have to point out that I didn’t tell V to back off, either.”
“You merely framed the situation. You let me make my own decision.”
Had he, though? He’d hoped she would help. He had wanted her to.
“I need you to know something,” she said as she turned his hand over and ran her fingertips across the lines of his palm.
“What’s that?”
Her eyes flipped to his and her stare was disarmingly direct. “I am not the Gift of Light. I need you to understand that.”
He smiled a little. “As you say—”
“I am not. And you must know that truth, not merely in your mind, but in your heart.”
“Shh. Just rest.” He stroked her cheek, then brushed her chin with his thumb. “You don’t need to worry about all that—”
“You have to believe me.”
“As you wish.”
“I am serious, Lassiter. I do not want to be made more than what I am. Because that will break your heart, and I shall not be a party to such meanness.”
Lassiter didn’t bother to hide the fact that the corners of his mouth were lifting once again. “So you are not indifferent to me, then.”
She pursed her lips. “Do not be daft.”
He thought of V. “Some would say I have no choice but to be daft—”
“Of course I am not indifferent to you.”
Lassiter’s heart stopped. And then began to pound.
“Good,” he said gravely. “I can build on that.”
As a flush bloomed in her face, her voice became husky. “What do you wish to construct, angel mine.”
His eyes traveled to her mouth, and he felt a rush of heat at his hips. But then she tried to hide another yawn and he knew now was not the time.
Under the guise of a repositioning, he moved his lower body back from her own.
“Rest now. I won’t leave.”
Rahvyn licked her lips, as if she were tasting his kiss—and he braced himself for what he was going to do if she asked him… for what he wanted. She was totally spent, though.
“Yes, I beg of you, please do not leave,” she said as she laid her head down on his arm and closed her eyes.
It was not long before she was breathing deeply, and it was only then that he mirrored her total recline. He didn’t relax, though, and there was going to be no sleep for him.
