Page 101 of Malice

“Because you were worried?”

“Yeah. I think it’s harder to hide your feelings from a spirit.”

“I think so too.”

I play with his fingers for a second. “What is the bond like?”

“I don’t know a lot about the specifics, but I know Farnsworth will do it. He’s the…” Aster pauses, half shrugging. “I don’t know his actual title. I consider him my boss.”

“Okay.”

“There are some risks. Basically, the bond ties us together in the truest sense. You won’t die, Hudson. You won’t age or get sick or anything a normal human does.”

“But we’re still human, right? Like you are right now?”

“Human, but special. Your parents and Jocelyn will probably notice.”

“I don’t talk to my parents, just Jocelyn, and she already knows about this whole world.”

“Right. The other thing is I’m still a Soul Chaser. I have to do a job that’s dangerous sometimes. If anything happens to me…” He swallows hard. “It happens to you.”

“If you die, I die?”

He nods with a somber expression on his face. “Yeah.”

“But it’s hard for you to die?”

“Hard. Not impossible. There were at least two times this Horror got close.”

“But your skills will grow, right? Like Wilder’s.”

“I would assume. Is this a risk you’re willing to take?”

“I’ve already been thinking about it since Crash brought it up. Maybe it’s crazy or dramatic, but what would my life be like now if I lost you anyway? I finally have…” I have to pause to blow out a breath to calm my shaky voice.

“Take your time.”

I clear my throat, nodding. “I deserve to be happy. I deserve a healthy, reciprocal love, and I finally have that. I don’t want to live in a world where you’re not in it anymore. If you go, I go. I accept that risk.”

Aster’s eyes turn glossy. “You mean it? You want to stay with me?”

“I want to stay with you, Aster. Whatever goes along with it, I’m in, and for once, it doesn’t scare me at all.”

He smiles as a tear slides down his cheek. “This is amazing.”

“It is. How soon can we do it?”

“I don’t know. I’ll contact Farnsworth as soon as I’m done turning you inside out. Which is exactly how I’d like to spend the next week.”

“I think we can manage that.”

Chapter 34

Aster

We fall into bed, kissing and tugging clothes off in a desperate attempt to get naked as quickly as possible. I need to feel Hudson’s skin on mine to ground me and celebrate what we’ve managed to find in the midst of all this chaos.

Hudson grazes my throat with his teeth, bumping his hips into mine. “I’ve never felt so safe,” he murmurs, so softly I almost didn’t hear it, but I did, and the words stop me.

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