Page 117 of Bound
Amoret is so much more than I realized. And I wish her brother could see it too.
“Can’t sleep?”
I peer over my shoulder as Lilah approaches, her small, curvy frame clad in Ruin’s over-large robe.
“Haven’t tried. You?” I ask.
“Too damn worried,” she admits, stepping behind the low bar to pour a drink. “First it was worry that we wouldn’t find them, and now that we have …”
“You’re worried about the trial.”
Her blue eyes shimmer. “Yeah.”
I set my mug down. “As much of an ass as they all are, they won’t forget that it was the colony that got them back, Lilah. And Ruin is Captain. He always has been. They won’t forget that either.”
She nods and takes a long draught from the glass in her hand. I tap my mug. With a small smile, she adds a long pour of whiskey to the black depths and I take a swig.
Both heats mix on my tongue before sliding down my throat in a nice burn.
“She still wants you.”
My eyes raise to find Lilah watching me. “What?”
“Amoret.” I stiffen. She takes another sip then says, “On the way back she road with Nisha and I. She huddled in the backseat, her eyes haunted and her body curled inward on herself like a lost child.”
I stare at her. “Why are you telling me this?”
Her glass clinks on the counter. “Because she watched out the fucking window back the way we came the entire way here. And after she let Nisha tend to her wounds, she went into her room, curled up on the pillows I know you laid on, and wouldn’t fucking move.”
I flinch back from the animosity pouring from her.
But she isn’t done. Not at all.
“She loves you, Gage. Likeput a ring on it todaykind of love. Hell, she worships the fucking ground you walk on and the instant she shows any hesitation to that devotion, what do you do?”
My lips press into a hard line.
Her hand hits the bar top and the glass rattles. “What did you do?”
“I turned away from her,” I say, voice low.
Lilah stands back, her blue eyes glinting. “I don’t know if I will have Ruin a week from now,” she tells me, and the first tear drop rolls down her cheeks. “But I will not waste a fucking minute I have with him. Do you understand?”
In the silence that follows, I can only gaze at her.
Because she’s right.
Even if Amoret leaves with the others, the few moments of happiness I have had with her have been the best of my life.
Her smile, her innocence.
There is no promise of what tomorrow will bring, but damn it to the Seven Hells and back, I want to bask in it while I can.
I push from the bar and walk around the counter. Lilah watches me approach, wariness in her smaller frame. I pull her into a tight hug and though she stiffens, she doesn’t push me away.
“I’m sorry, Lilah,” I murmur, knowing she can hear. “For not getting to you fast enough that night. For not keeping you safe so you didn’t have this worry.”
She sniffs and pats my back. “It’s not your fault, Gage.”
