Page 81 of The Ballad of a Bard

“I promise that I’ll be by your side for the entirety of it, and I won’t leave you with him if you don’t want me to.” West ran his thumb along her forearm, trailing upwards towards her elbow. She almost leaned into the comforting touches. “But I’ll also vanish if you ask it of me.”

“Why?” She swallowed dryly, looking elsewhere. “Why are you doing all of this, being so nice and generous to Cobalt and I?”

“Because a Saint put you in this predicament and now a Saint is going to help you out of it. Because you are my friends and I care about you. Because I couldn’t help anyone in this damnedworld and finally, I saw something I could change.” He listed them off, one by one.

Crimson’s eyes misted. “I see.”

“Is that a prob-”

“No one’s ever wanted to take care of us before.” She said before he could finish. “Not when my mother died, and certainly not after. We were the poor orphans that everyone looked down on, but could never spare a coin or a loaf of bread, anything. They all gave us sad looks and pitiful apologies, but apologies didn’t fill empty stomachs and bleeding coffers.”

His heart hurt, ached, cried for her.

“I have doneeverythingfor him.”Her voice was quiet as Cobalt turned on the tap in the bathroom. “I have given up so much in order to take care of him and for once…” Her chest heaved. “It feels so damned nice to have someone take care ofme.”

It was his turn to feel the tears in his waterline. He hated hearing that from her, hated the isolation and depression so calmly linked with her sentences. West grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him. Forced her to show him the tears that now slid down her cheeks.

“From now on,” He said, “I’mtaking care of you. Ofbothof you. Do you understand?”

She let out a whimper and tucked her lips together as she bobbed her head. “Thank you, West.” He wiped her tears away with flicks of his thumb, dragging them down to her jaw. “You’ve done so much for me, for us.”

Saints be damned.

He was going to kiss her again.

Fucking hell.

“Of course, Heartstrings.” West didn’t try to stop himself as he angled his head down, titling until he could feel the heat fromher exhale as she reached up to meet him. She lifted herself on her toes, pressing her mouth against his.

Crimson melted into his arms, allowing him to take her even further into his grasp. He was gentle this time, no explorative licks of his tongue against her teeth, or the scrape of his teeth against her inner lip. This wasn’t a kiss for sex, or any lustful reason. No, this was a kiss for comfort, to let her know that he meant everything he said, and wouldn’t break that promise.

Even if that kiss awoke a terrible beast inside of him that demanded more. She pulled away to breathe and he admired the way her cheeks blushed, her mouth shined and her eyes seemed to sparkle.

West leaned down to kiss her again, fingers tightening on her arm. Fuck his rules. He was already way in over his head with her, falling closer and closer to that mistake of letting himself be hers in another way completely. He was a hair’s width away, he was so close, he-

Cobalt flung open the door and they jumped apart as he raced for the bed. “I’m ready for bed!” He jumped towards it, almost missing it by an inch as he rolled across the top. “Let’s get all cozy.”

“Then get under the covers, and we’ll join you.” Crimson backed away first, her beautiful gaze leaving him as she pulled away from his mouth.

Relief and disappointment crashed into him like the foamy surf on splintering rocks. Relief, because she stopped him from making a terrible mistake. Disappointment because he desperately wanted to taste her tongue again, to feel her mouth move against his in that stirring way that made him crave her even more.

Cobalt held the covers up and she slid into them, letting them drop over her. But West halted as he realised that the boy had taken up the furthest place on the bed, Crimson wrappedaround him with her arm dragged over his shoulder. Which left only one possible place to go.

Behind her.

Quickly, his mind ran through every possible scenario and excuse he could think of to not cuddle into her, trying to figure out a reasonable way to deny the small child his one ask. But there was no answer that wouldn’t be deemed cruel, so he tossed them all aside.

West angled himself towards the bed, shifting beneath the sheets as he came behind her, avoiding any sharp inhale of air as their bodies pressed together. She must have made a low sound from the back of her throat, because her spine locked when she felt his leg against hers. All of a sudden, her breathing became too focused, too counted as he laid his head down on the pillow beside her.

Crimson was as taut as a fresh bowstring and so was he.

Cobalt blew out the candle and darkness settled over them like a comfortable friend. He wriggled even deeper, which caused Crimson to shove back in order to make room for him. West swallowed his vulgar curse as her backside rubbed against him, right where he was trying to avoid meshing together. His fingers curled into a fist as he tried to control the rush of blood that was currently travelling south, before she could feel it and he heard those damning words from her again. The ones that made him question his morals and everything. The ones that gave him a sense of mortality, because they would be laced with her life.

But he hesitantly lowered his arm over hers, tucked his chin into the crook of her neck and let himself enjoy this life for the night. Because come morning, come everything after, nothing would be the same again.

This was what he wanted.

West held her for the entire night as she held her brother, and for once in his life, he felt normal.

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