Page 214 of Evil Hearts

Syalin made a sound of disgust. “You’re such a gods-damned narcissist, Ru.”

Ruven turned and gave Syalin a pretty smile, shifting into his monstrous form as he did, his fangs dropped forward into an aggressive position. “How does it feel, being my handler?”

“Bad,” Syalin said, completely deadpan. “Are you aware that there’s at least four separate sets of people searching for you? And Lady Hartley, presumably.”

He got a dismissive wave. “We’re here, we’re safe, and we’re mostly uninjured. Avalon’s hurt her foot, though, so we ought to deal with that before we head out.”

Syalin heaved a sigh and dropped down into a wooden chair, resting his weight across his thighs. “So. You’re his soulmate, hmm? That explains a great deal.” His blue eyes slid over to Ruven, who was still on his knees with his hands on my legs. “Do you have any plan at all for handling your superiors? Ten thousand gold is an outrageous sum—”

Ruven cut him off with a sharp hiss. “Don’t insult me. I spent my own gold. I expect we’ll have to entertain someone from Fyttoren & Flynn in a few days when they bring the writ to collect the coin, but we can handle them then.” His tail coiled around my calf. “It may even prove beneficial. I expect most of the buyers were glamored for the auction. Why can’t Lord Castellan Kezorwyn be a man who enjoys purchasing bondsmen for his pleasure?”

The corner of Syalin’s eye twitched. “Ten thousand, Ru.”

His ears pinned back. “I’m aware it was rash. I didn’t prepare a response for ‘they’re auctioning off your soulmate as a slave’ beforehand, you know.”

I touched the collar on my throat self-consciously. Calling me a lady didn’t make me any less a slave.

Ruven followed my hand and frowned. He held out one hand towards Syalin. “Your knife.”

The other man sighed, but he pulled out a short knife from a sheath on his hip and set it in Ruven’s hand, hilt-first. Ruven pushed himself up with liquid power and settled onto the cot next to me. “Don’t be afraid,” he murmured, hooking his fingers under the collar. He slid the knife under it and started rocking the sharp edge against the leather. “Soulmates are perfect matches, bound soul-to-soul. Everything we possess belongs to the other, down to our names and my eternity. You can’t owe me anything.”

“But—” I started.

“Shh,” he said softly. The dull edge of the knife slid against my pounding pulse. “You’re your own woman, Avalon. You needn’t stay with me, though I hope you will. It takes time to find our balance together, whether in alignment or opposition, but when we do… if we do… it will be perfection. For what it’s worth, I think it would be easy for you to have me in any way you desire.” His nose brushed through my hair as he inhaled. “One benefit of dealing with someone as narcissistic as Syalin accuses me of being is that he will do a great deal to hear his name spoken with pleasure by your tongue.”

He smelled like summer—ocean salt layered into the depths of sun-heated leather and the sweetness of meadows turned golden by dry heat. I had to swallow, my mouth wetting and heartbeat hammering against the warmth of his calloused fingertips.

The leather parted. Ruven caught it between his thumb and forefinger and inhaled against my hair again, scenting me like an animal. “Would you like to ruin this hateful thing?” he asked in a low murmur. “Burn it, drown it, slice it to pieces and feed it to the dogs?”

“I don’t hate it,” I said when I could manage to get the words out without the thickness of desire in my throat turning my voiceinto a rasp. “I wanted to live. I wanted to walk and talk and shoot a bow again, and I wanted to do it with a mind that worked and decades ahead of me. The price wasn’t too high for that.”

“Well,Ihate it,” he said. “Do as you like with it, but the day I see you in someone else’s collar again will surely be the day they die.” He passed the knife back to Syalin hilt-first, then took my hand and turned it palm-up, setting the cut band of leather in my hand and closing my fingers around it.

“Is that a promise?” I asked as my cheeks flushed, looking down at the dark leather in my hand.

“More like a threat,” Ruven said, his voice heated and rough. His thumb swept across my pulse point.

Syalin cleared his throat, getting a low growl from Ruven. Apparently unconcerned, he reached out and shoved the toe of his boot against Ruven’s leg. “Rein it in, Ru,” Syalin said with a touch of warning. “Remember how you got into that mess with Lady Mellinae to start with. Do you honestly think you’re going to do better with a soulmate than you did with her?”

Ruven growled again, in what sounded like frustration. He shoved himself away from me and back to his feet, raking his fingers through his black hair. His tail wrapped around my ankle before he yanked it away and put his foot on it, pinning it behind his front toe and in front of his two side toes.

I frowned, my side feeling cold without his warmth against it. “Who’s Lady Mellinae, and what the heck does she have to do with me?” I asked, a bit waspish. It was the second time I’d heard her name, and to my embarrassment it roused a possessive, green-eyed jealousy.

Color rose in Ruven’s cheeks. “I’ll tell you later,” he muttered. “Ask me after I’ve had a night in my own bed.”

“Do you think you’re going to manage to stay in your own bed for a full night?” Syalin asked pleasantly.

Ruven blushed harder and didn’t answer, keeping his eyes averted.

Syalin huffed a laugh, one corner of his mouth tilting up into a surprisingly fond smile. “There’s far too many searching eyes in the streets for me to feel comfortable traveling, so I suppose we’re stuck here for the night. The cot’s not terribly comfortable, but it’s safe here. Have you eaten dinner?”

I nodded, watching Ruven, who kept his eyes pointed at the floor and his tail pinned in place. The tips flicked side-to-side in obvious ire.

“They fed us before the auction. I don’t mind sleeping here, but are you just going to sleep on the floor, or…?” I asked, looking back at Syalin.

He flicked one ear, glancing over at Ruven. “I’m not being hunted, so I’m planning on slipping back downstairs into the inn. Once I grab some clothing for him, Ru can play my companion for the night. We’ve done it before.”

“You’re not the one I want to companion,” Ruven muttered. Syalin kicked him on the ankle again, getting a lifted lip in response.

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