Page 69 of Blood So Brutal

“What, exactly, changed? Because I know you’re still in love with her, if that’s what you’re referring to.”

I ignored his comment and ran a hand through my tangled hair. “I realized I was wrong. She needs to learn to fly. It’s the best way to keep her safe. I can’t teach her, but you can. Thisgoes beyond me and my selfish intentions of keeping her to myself.”

He eyed me carefully. “There are other people living in The Golden City who could teach her. It doesn’t have to be me, brother. Plenty of fae and angels would be more than willing?—”

“It has to be you,” I interrupted. “I don’t trust anyone else with her.”

“But you trust me?”

I finally looked at him. “Of course I trust you, you damn idiot. You’re the only one in this entire kingdom I trust besides Huntyr.”

“Well, then there’s something you should know.”

I froze. “What is it?”

Jessiah shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere else in the room but at me. “A few weeks ago, I caught Huntyr trying to sneak around in The Golden City. I brought her back, of course, but I gave her a bit of a hard time for being so mean to you. She told me she would agree to marry you and she would go along with our plans if I promised to take her back home for a night.”

I processed his words very, very slowly. “Are you joking?”

My brother threw his hands in the air. “I only agreed because I wanted her to get her ass back to the castle. I never intended on bringing her back there, especially without telling you.”

Fuck. Midgrave was a long way from here. It would take hours just to fly there, and that was if she managed to get out of The Golden City alive, which was a challenge already.

“Absolutely not,” I stated. “Huntyr visiting Midgrave, even for a night, is the worst thing she could do right now.”

“Agreed,” Jessiah said innocently. “I just wanted to tell you about it now that we’re trusting each other and everything.”

I rolled my eyes at him. Huntyrwouldask Jessiah to take her back. Honestly, I expected her to make a break for it a long time ago.

I wasn’t mad about it, but it couldn’t happen, not if we wanted to keep her safe.

A long silence filled the air between us. “I won’t let anything happen to her,” he said. All jokes left his voice. This was serious. He meant those words.

“I know you won’t. Just watch your hands, okay? She might not know where we stand, but nobody else gets to have her.”I was only half-joking.

“No need to worry, brother.” Jessiah clapped me on the shoulder. “My romantic interests lie elsewhere. Even if they didn’t, I can see the way Huntyr looks at you, not to mention the fact that she’s pissed at you every other day.”

“What? That’s supposed to be a good thing?”

Jessiah laughed quietly. “Oh yes,” he said. “That’s a good thing.”

The entire day was spent avoiding my bedroom. I went on a run through The Golden City, careful to avoid any hungry ones, and ate in the dining hall alone, taking my sweet time. Huntyr would not want to talk to me today, not after what happened.

But she would have to understand that this was all to protect her. We were playing the long game. We couldn’t defeat the evil here if we were all dead.

It was a give and a take; show Asmodeus some of Huntyr’s power so he would be happy, and then we would have space to plan our next move.

Why couldn’t she understand that?

I was on my way back to my room a little after midnight when I felt a flare of Huntyr’s emotions through our bond. I was just passing the long hallway to the empty training rooms, my bedroom much too far away to feel through the bond.

I turned.

Huntyr was close.

I kept my footsteps light and the walls to our bond up. I didn’t want her to know I was coming. If alone time was what she was looking for, I didn’t want to interrupt that. I just wanted to know she was safe.

Besides, it wasn’t like her to be creeping through this castle alone. She hardly left our bedroom.

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