Chapter Fifty-Seven
Fallyn
Rowena’s certainty was hard as iron, saying aloud what had hovered on the edge of my thoughts for all this time.
I glanced at the stain, glaring at it as if making it fear me would make it recede from my wrist, from Ash’s.
"I see the way she looks at you. The way her eyes soften when she sees you.
She didn't have the ink touch before she met you, so I ask again," Rowena's voice turned dangerously low in a way I'd not heard from her before, "What have you done to her? "
I opened my mouth to speak, but Ash beat me to it.
He went eerily still and when he spoke, his voice was like a blade thrown down between them.
"This curse isn't a bond, if that's what you're implying.
It's a countdown neither of us anticipated, nor agreed to.
" His voice lowered, finality without emotion or uncertainty, "If there's something coming for her in that curse, it will find my sword between it and her.
And if I am part of what she has to survive," His voice was a flicker of barely controlled violence, like a horse grabbing the bit from its rider and trying to barrel through its restraints, "then I will ensure she survives me. "
I went sharply still. There was no hesitation in his voice, no wavering that left room for misinterpretation.
In a clean, rational sense, I fear the curse.
Of what it will do. Of the male in my nightmares and which end he'll choose when he's finally free to hunt me.
My gaze flickered back to my hand as if it mocked me.
But it wasn't my only fear; it was the way my heartbeat galloped in my chest at his open admission.
"You can call a noose a necklace," Rowena glowered, "It doesn't make it one."
"That noose isn't just around her neck." Ash tilted his head behind the crossing of his arms, "It's around mine too, if you're questioning my motivation."
Rowena's response fell like an axe at a guillotine. "Then you're both standing too close to the edge of something that doesn't take intent into account."
“Where are you headed then? What’s your plan?” Dess broke the growing tension, eying us both with far less distrust than her mate. "Please tell me you have a plan."
“We invoke the help of Hecate at Moonfall,” Ash said. “The goddess of magic herself.”
“Moonfall? That's your plan?” Rowena’s voice climbed as octave along with her eyebrows. “Where the souls of all who fail her tests are doomed to wander for eternity, even denied an afterlife!”
“And what else would you have us do? ” Ash snapped at her, causing her to go silent.
“Sit and do nothing?” Ash’s eyes slid to me, just for a moment.
I wasn’t sure if the tension of the moment cracked like a whip or if his magic vibrated the air.
“We're short on time and options. This is our best chance. We either yield to death or we make it yield to us. There is no third option.”
"You say you've read about curses," glad that Ro's attention softened when it turned to me. "Did you learn anything that may be of use?"
Rowena shook her head, hanging it low in defeat. With a long sigh and shared look between her and Dess, in the language that only those two spoke, her face eased before turning back to Ash. “You truly mean Fallyn no harm?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Never.”
Ro’s green eyes flickered in the late afternoon sun streaming in from the windows, a knowing smile stretching as she took in Ash and me, as if she knew something I didn’t.
The same smile she got when she had the winning hand in a round of cards, or if she placed a bet she knew she’d win.
What I didn’t understand was why. I looked at Ash, gauging his response, but he held Ro’s gaze steady, giving very little away, and yet they seemed to be having their own conversation.
Glancing at Dess, her shrug made it clear she also didn’t know what was going on.
“Ash, I’ll remind you that I won’t always be stuck in a heap on the sofa.
If you harm a hair on that girl’s head,” she pointed at me, “I’ll gut you slowly.
I know how to keep someone alive even when their body is trying to die.
The curse won’t have a chance to take you.
I’ll make sure you feel every ounce of agony possible before you meet your bloody end. ”
Ash, of all things, chuckled, the sound the only one in the living room. “In that, Rowena, we are in perfect agreement.”
Rowena’s uncle Bayron was hard of hearing and hadn’t known we’d made it in so when he popped his head to ask a question to his niece, his eyes widened with surprised delight to see Ash and I.
He didn't notice the tension in the room and without meaning to, dispelled it at least for the moment. He doesn’t hug you as much as he envelopes you with his large frame and soft demeanor.
He hugged me tightly, sweetly, the way one comforts a child.
“Dess and Ro told me of what happened to your father and Thaddeus. I am so sorry sweet girl. I know I’m no stand in, but I want you to know you have a family.
Please don’t feel as you have no home and nobody to walk beside you.
Because if you would have me, I would never step on your father’s memory, but I’d be proud to stand in and witness your growth for him.
To be there for the milestones for him. And for you. ”
It was an instant response. Tears streamed down my cheeks in silent torrents. My mouth opened and closed as I struggled to find the words that wouldn’t reveal themselves. All I could do was hug him tighter, hiccupping on a thank you. “You honor me greatly, uncle Bayron, and I can’t accept—”
“Nay, Fallyn.” He said, pulling away to cup my face, the thick pads of his calloused thumbs wiping my tears. “You don’t have to, and I will not force anything, but you have people here who would happily call you family. Happily, watch you grow into a new life here. And happily, keep you safe.”
I couldn’t stop my blubbering even if I wanted to.
Thankfully, Bayron raised his gaze curiously over my shoulder to the dark male behind me.
“And who is this, then? I understand you are also responsible for saving my niece. Welcome stranger.” Before Ash could say anything, could even move, Uncle Bayron was hugging him too with his barrel-like arms. Ash looked uncomfortable, unsure of what to do, before patting his back in a way that almost looked like acceptance.
Even a warmth I’d not witnessed previously.
“Now, enough with this gooey emotional display,” Bayron said excitedly whisking everyone into the kitchen where the smell of cinnamon and apples coaxed a grumble from my belly. “Let’s eat those feelings, shall we?”
Uncle Bayron had been hard at work before our arrival making Rowena’s favorite, apple pie, and after tasting his, it might be my favorite now too.
With full bellies, he had a single guest suite left he showed us to.
My gratitude was palpable that I wouldn’t be forced to leave Rowena and Dess so soon, and as much as I desperately longed to talk into the quiet hours by the fire, we all needed our rest, especially Rowena.
She hobbled to bed with the help of her wife, who despite her shorter stature, held onto Ro firmly like the pillar of support she was, guiding her to their room.
Bayron led us to the suite, despite my saying we knew where it was. I yawned as I followed, ready to sleep.
“Thank you again, uncle Bayron for your kindness in allowing us to stay here tonight,” I whispered to avoid disturbing anyone. He gave me a long look of mock exasperation and a hearty hand pat as we arrived to the double-doored suite.
“It’s my pleasure, Fallyn, although I sincerely apologize for this being the only room I have. And I meant what I said. This can be home if ever you need it.” The door swung open and I was immediately horrified by what I saw.
A bed. One.
The room was lovely. A stone fireplace that had seen better days rested quiet and cold in the corner.
White stained walls and stale air greeted us as we breached the threshold.
The bed was standard fare, but to me, after weeks of sleeping outside, it may as well have been the softest mattress in the entire realm, and the sheets may as well have been sent from above.
I all but collapsed onto it, relishing the way my body sank into it.
“Why don’t you have a bath before you sleep?
” Ash’s almost too casual suggestion shattered the tenuous silence at last as he got to work building a fire.
His back faced me, allowing me a moment to sniff myself.
Mortification shamed me, filling me with the desire to shed at least one layer of skin under a cascade of bubbles.
Hot water and bubbles had never seemed like such a luxury as they did right now. I padded into the cramped bathing chamber before turning to Ash with a warning glare.
“Can I trust you to stay out here?” I tossed, opting to grab my dagger when I collected the folded towel from the side table. The thought of him being in here while I bathed was oddly… intimate. A snort of derision was shot back at me as the flames began to grow in the hearth.
“You know the answer to that, I would hope.”
“If you so much as touch the door—”
The words died on my tongue when he turned around and returned my stare tenfold.
His chuckle reverberated around the room. “As much fun as that knife of yours promises, I’m not in the mood to see what it feels like plunged into my back.”
Heat flared along my extremities. A reaction that he didn’t miss, if his darkening gaze was his response.
Flourishing the dagger once with what I hoped was finesse, I nodded curtly and strode into the bathing room with as much bravado as I could muster.
The moment the door closed, I sucked in a breath, not realizing I’d even been holding it.
My lungs burned, having waited for reprieve for several heartbeats.
One bed. One bathing chamber.
My heart galloped in my chest, loud enough it was all I could hear. I glanced nervously at the door, hoping that he couldn’t hear it too somehow.