Page 145 of Obsidian and Frost
A full-on, genuine, wide smile.
I grasped the sides of his jacket and pulled him to me, then planted a soft kiss on his cheek.
A chuckle escaped him. “I will cherish this,little shadow.”
“Me too.”
He pushed to his feet with some noticeable struggle because he was still weakened and he would be for several hours yet.
I tensed, thinking he was going to try to take off and disappear into the ozone for months on end again, that our kiss had pushed him right back to that and elicited another panic in him.
But then he shrugged his jacket off and neatly folded it and put it across the foot of the bed. Then he toed off his boots and socks. “I need to rest for a while, just like you advised earlier.” He eyed the chair by my desk.
“That will be really uncomfortable, Cassius. Just lie down here on my bed.”
“I… I can’t fall asleep for too long, just an hour or so. I can’t leave Ketheron alone and he’ll be home from Haven Initiative at—”
“I’ll text Nyx and have him ask Ariana or one of them to stay with him.”
“Actually, yes, that would be good. He’d also like that very much.”
I pulled the covers of my four-poster bed down. “Here. Get comfortable.”
As he went to do that, I grabbed my phone from the back pocket of my pants and sent a text.
Velra:Any way one of your foursome can stay with Ketheron tonight, or have him stay at your place?
As I waited for a response, my gaze flicked to Cassius and I jolted when I saw him taking his black tee off, baring his incredibly sculpted torso beneath.
Holy hell.
My phone pinged and I averted my gaze to take it in.
Nyx:Ari can bring him to our place once they’re done at Haven Initiative. Everything okay? Cassius staying the night with you? Something major you’ve forgotten to tell me about?
Velra:It’s complicated.
Nyx:No doubt with him in question. You okay?
Velra:All good. He’s in no state to be teleported currently, but he’ll be fine.
Nyx:Lazriel finally snapped on him?
Velra:Not in the way you think. It was an accident.
Nyx:Can’t wait to hear all the details in a couple of days when you’re finally back up at the Guardian Compound for our Crossborn meeting.
I winced. He meant it, too. He’d want to know the whole scope. It wasn’t actually him being nosey, it was him looking out for me. He was an absolute sweetheart.
And I knew he was really toning it down and holding back with his responses during this text conversation for my benefit. It was no small thing that Cassius was here and he was well aware of how monumental it actually was.
Velra:We’ll talk.
Nyx:See you soon, little sis.
I smiled, then pocketed my phone.
When I turned back to Cassius, he was settled underneath my covers over on the left side of the bed. Right on the edge.
