“I was coming to retrieve my wife,” he says.
I frown. “And if she’s unwilling to be retrieved?”
Henry’s wicked grin sends a shiver through me. “I do love the chase.” He gestures down the road. “How much of a head start do you want?”
Just the thought of it sends a flood of heat through my body.
Kellan looks from Henry to me. “Not sure what’s going on here, but I’m confident I don’t want to know.” He kisses my cheek. “Let it go, Low. And come to dinner tonight. Both of you.”
Henry watches Kellan go to greet the crowd before turning his attention back to me. He holds out his arm, and I reluctantly take it.
I let him lead me through the crowd of people gathered to see the new Blood Well cover. I can understand their fascination. While the well has always been guarded, it’s never been covered like this for anything other than festivals, and it’s clearly bringing up a lot of feelings from the people who have been bleeding for our power all these years.
A steady stream of revelers wanders by us, everyone on their way to celebrate the return of daylight as well as this new way of life in Lunameade. Children run by us, ribbons held above their heads, streaming behind them in blurs of color. Couples kiss and laugh as they share bites of berry cakes from a nearby bakery.
Everything seems so astonishingly normal.
When we finally break free from the heaviest crush of the crowd, I expect Henry to start apologizing, but he just continues silently leading me down the street.
His silence is disconcerting. I watch him out of the corner of my eye.
“Like what you see, wife?”
“You look terrible,” I say.
He very much does not. He looks rugged and handsome and like he needs a haircut, but I don’t want him to get it because I like being able to grab a handful of those waves while he?—
I snap my gaze away. The last thing I need to be thinking about now is Henry’s lying mouth.
“We’ve agreed to share everything the fort knows about the Breeders with your brother and to help track nests of them so that we can try to cull the population,” he says. “I’m hopeful that we might be able to get to a place where trade is possible again and it’s not so dangerous to pass between Lunameade and Mountain Haven.”
I nod. It’s exciting to think about the possibilities this could open up. If the lack of blood tithes makes the Drained weaker, or perhaps just tamer, there’s no telling how different the future could be from the past. I’m not usually one for hope, but it’s thrilling to consider not just escaping the city walls, but the freedom to explore more of the world beyond the Drained Wood.
“Your brother has granted a contingent of forty men to help supplement our forces at the fort,” Henry says. “It will be an adjustment for everyone there, not without its share of conflict, but it will make a big difference.”
He’s so calm. The more casual and conversational he is, the more my anger grows. That feeling is only exacerbated by the fact that I know he can feel how annoyed I am about it.
“Can you just say what you need to say?” I snap, turning to face him.
Henry grabs my hand and tugs me into the alleyway beside us so we’re away from the stream of people rushing toward the Blood Well.
He searches my face. “Could you trust me again?”
“Would you use your magic on me?”
“Only with your permission.” He takes my hands.
I scowl at him. “Why would I ever give you permission to?—”
I realize why the second his gaze heats. He means he would use it to control me in bed if I wanted him to. Warmth pools in my stomach and my cheeks burn at the thought.
The corner of Henry’s mouth twitches. “I only ever used it on you twice. You’re quite hard to hook.”
I cock my head. “So you wanted to use it more than that?”
He sighs in exasperation. “No. I wanted to see if I could get in if I had to.”
I want to be angry, but I would have gone to any lengths in order to get vengeance for Aidia. It’s hard to be mad at him when I would do the same thing.
