Page 94 of Shadow Master
“Wait …” Devon said. “Does that mean …”
“Yes.” Brady grinned. “It means you guys are free of Orion’s law.”
Joy fluttered in the pit of my stomach, but I needed to understand. “Why? Why now?”
Hyde locked gazes with me. “He didn’t say. I didn’t ask.”
“Who cares why?” Kash said. “You guys are free.”
Brady cracked his knuckles. “Shame, I was looking forward to busting some Tuatha bones.”
We were free. Truly free. I bridged the distance between Hyde and me and fell into his arms. He hugged me tight, then lifted me off my feet and swung me around, his laughter echoing around the room.
“Fuck, this calls for a celebration,” Aidan said. “I think I have a bottle of something in my room.”
* * *
The guys were still celebratingwith the bottle of lethal grog Aidan had produced. Damn, the stuff was strong. But there was one person missing from the celebrations, and I needed to understand why.
The moon was high as I made my way to the barracks. Harmon hadn’t been back to the Academy since the war. I hadn’t spoken to him for a week, and my messages had gone unanswered. He was here. Hyde had checked in on him. But Harmon hadn’t come to see me. I’d waited, but no more.
I slipped into barracks six to find him sitting at the table nursing a mug. He was alone.
He looked up, but there was no surprise on his face. “I knew you’d come.” He smiled, but it was a sad smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Harmon?”
“Sit down, Indie, we need to talk.”
I knew that tone and those words … They never meant anything good. My heart ached because I knew. I’d known for days, and I’d ignored it. But his absence, his need to be here rather than with me, had said it all.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You’re leaving, aren’t you? You’re going with them … the militia.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Why?” I gripped his arm. “Harmon … I don’t understand. Don’t you love me?”
His jaw clenched, and he took a shuddering breath before fixing his emerald eyes on me. “Do you really doubt that?”
My throat pinched painfully. “No.” I knew why he was leaving. There was only one reason.
“I don’t belong here any longer,” he said gruffly. “And we can’t be together, not while I’m like this.”
I wanted to say we’d fix it, but there was no guarantee about that. “I don’t want to lose you, and I don’t care if we can’t … consummate.”
He made a sound of exasperation. “Fuck, Indie, I care. I can see you with them, and not taste you, touch you, be inside you. I need to be that close to you too.” He twisted in his seat and reached up to cup my face. “I have to go, but I’ll be back. I’m going to find the bastard who did this to me, and I’m going to make him reverse it. I will come back.”
I nodded mutely, my vision blurring as tears slid down my cheeks.
He wiped them away with his thumb. “Abram has agreed to help me. I leave tomorrow.”
“You were going to leave without saying bye?”
He pulled something from his pocket. A note. And then crumpled it in his hand. “Pathetic … I know. I just …” He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to leave if I saw you again, but I knew you’d come.”
I wanted to tell him not to go. I wanted to make him stay, but he’d be staying for me, not for him. If he stayed, he would be stuck this way, more fomorian than moonkissed, and that wasn’t what he wanted.
I pulled away. “You better come back. I mean it. If you don’t, I’m coming after you.”
