Page 96 of The Blood of Gods and Monsters

It isn’t until the two of us are through the secret passageway and take that final step from out of the hot interior of the mountain tunnels that he speaks again. A wash of cool night air slides over my skin, the drying sweat on the side of my neck making me feel sticky with grime.

I move towards the forest, stopping only when I feel a hand close over my shoulder. Frowning, I look back to Regis who stands, half in the tunnel and half out. His body is illuminated by the moonlight shining down, but his face remains in the shadows.

“Regis?” I turn back. “Are you okay? Do you need to rest?”

He shifts and lowers his arm. “No.” The word is a croak. “No, I just wanted to…” His chest rises and falls with a jerky breath. “I know we’ve never—I mean…” A minute passes and then two. The soft noises of bugs buzzing and small animals rustling the underbrush soothe my nerve endings. Still, I wait. Then… “I once told you that I’d never come to your aid,” Regis murmurs. “That I wouldn’t help you even if Ophelia ordered it. I … I didn’t mean that. I said it in anger. I said it because you’re?—”

“I know, Regis,” I say, stopping him from saying the reason for his animosity. There’s no need when we’re both well aware of it.

“I’m sorry.” The apology comes unexpectedly. “And thank you … for coming for me. For killing for me.”

And because I don’t know what else to say to a man who’s hated me for the last seven years, a man that I’ve trained with, sparred with, beaten, and been beaten by, I do the only thing I can think to do.

I punch him.

“What the fuck!” Regis stumbles under the blow. “I was fucking apologizing. Why did you punch me?” He comes out of the shadows, rubbing his jaw and glaring as he does.

I shrug. “Just making sure you were real and not a mirage,” I answer lightly, pivoting back toward the path. “Now, hurry your ass up or I’ll leave you in my dust like I always do.”

“Gods, you’re annoying,” Regis mutters.

My steps are lighter. “Yeah, but now that you’ve apologized, this means we’re friends so you’ll just have to put up with it.”

“Fuck no, we’re not friends!” His objection echoes into the night.

I snort. “Oh, we’re definitely friends,” I say. “You’re the only one I know who will stab me in the chest rather than my back.”

“What?”

Glancing back at his befuddled expression, I laugh at his creased brows and twisted lips. “A true friend will make sure you know who’s betraying you,” I tell him before turning back to the path before us. “They’ll stab you in the chest rather than the back.”

Regis grumbles about throwing me off a cliff, but I hear the telltale sound of his footsteps following after me a moment later. The smile that comes to my lips can’t be contained. Turning my face to the night sky and glittering gems of the sea of stars overhead, I release a slow breath.

Maybe we don’t need to be rivals. Maybe we really can be friends. Though I’d never admit it to him now, I’ve always hoped for as much. My first real friend. Not my father. Not just a comrade, but an honest-to-Gods friend.

Even killers need someone to pull them back from the edge of darkness now and then. If Regis can be that for me, then I’ll always come for him.

Chapter 40

Kiera

Present Day…

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I wrinkle my nose and bat at whatever the annoying thing is tickling my nose. Something wet hits my knuckles and my eyes shoot open to see a haggard, but very much awake Regis leaning over me, flicking water on my face.

I blink. His face stretches as he offers me a wan smile. “Morning, Kay.”

“Regis!” My body is already moving, bounding out of the chair and tackling him to the bed before I give myself conscious consent to move.

I plow into him with all of the subtlety of a runaway carriage through a glass shop. He grunts as I wrap my arms around him and squeeze, tears burning at the back of my eyes as I do.

“Yeah, I’m happy to be alive, too,” he wheezes. Regis lifts his arms and meets my embrace. Burrowing my face into his chest, I bite down on my lower lip to keep from making a sound as my throat convulses. I snap my eyes shut and refuse to let the floodgates open.

We stay like that for several long moments, the two of us wrapped around each other, taking in the sound of his beating heart and his even breathing. Alive, Regis is alive. I never thought I’d be so grateful for something so damned ordinary, but I am.

Finally, Regis presses his palms against my shoulders and pushes me back. “Kiera, before you say anything else, I want you to know that I’m fucking sorry—so damned sorry about what happened with Ophelia.”

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