Page 18 of Bound

She gathered the dress and let it fall over her head. The sleek fabric against her bare skin made her gasp. She was used to cotton and wool; she had never felt anything so luxurious. Not to mention the dark blue jewels studded down the leg, framing a slit down the side.

“I have a mirror,” Slate offered.

He stepped back to reveal a mirror on the back of the bedroom door, towering over her.

She walked up to it and gaped.

Ruby stared at their reflection, a shaky realization coming over her. Her dress was the same shade as his robe. It could have been made from the same material, except no shadows were sloughing off her dress.

I look like I belong to him, she realized with a hot thrill.

Ruby ran a finger down the plunging neckline and shivered. Standing here below him, she looked like a devoted servant. Maybe a priestess. If her eyes got any darker, she could pass as his pet demon.

Or something even darker than that: she looked like something parents warned their children about. Like she should be dripping shadows right along with him.

Slate came up behind her. “Is it suitable?”

“Suitable,” Ruby echoed faintly. “I… yes. Where did you even find this?”

“I crafted it myself,” Slate replied. “I spun it out of shadows.”

Ruby couldn’t stop staring. Her stomach swooped. It felt like something huge had happened, only she didn’t know what.

“Why this?” she whispered. “What was wrong with my dress?”

Slate huffed and looked away. The shadows around his mask flickered in irritation.

Ruby tensed, waiting to be told to stop talking. Gods knew she was used to it from her town.

“You are bound to a Skullstalker,” Slate said finally, not meeting her eyes. “You should look like it.”

Ruby swallowed. She still couldn’t bring herself to tear her eyes away from her reflection.

“Andyouare bound tome,” she said slowly, hardly believing her nerve even as she said it. “What should you look like?”

Her heart pounded, waiting for his response.

But Slate didn’t growl. His tail didn’t even sway in irritation. All of him stilled, even his shadows. Then he laughed, a clicking chirp that made her jump before she realized what it was.

“I am not in the mood to look small and weak,” he said.

I don’t look so small and weak now,Ruby thought, dazed.

“You said I was powerful,” she said quietly. “When I lit the fire.”

“Yourmagicis powerful. As it should be, away from that pale mortal realm.” He hesitated, his claw grazing her sleeve. For a moment, it looked like he would say something else. Then he turned from her, his loincloth flowing over her dress.

“You must be getting hungry,” he said dubiously.

Ruby laughed. He sounded so puzzled when he talked about human needs.

“Not yet,” she said. “But soon, yes. I can find more eggs if you guide me back to the forest.”

Slate snorted, rolling his shoulder in a way that reminded Ruby of wild animals crouching for a hunt.

“Don’t bother. I will find you food.” Slate turned toward the door, and Ruby’s heart jerked in her chest as his reflection vanished from the mirror. For a moment, she’d almost felt… like shewassomething, which was ridiculous. She was the witch of Sweetsguard, protecting them from the edge of town. She was one of Paimon’s worshippers, drawing her magic from his patronage.

This was something different. For a moment, she felt like she had tapped into something bigger, deeper,darker. A half-baked fantasy she didn’t even know she had until he draped her in shadows and stood beside her.

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