Page 152 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Kase hesitated. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Waylan said something…crude. And well, I was drunk. I started the fight.”
“Crude?”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter now.”
“It does if it makes you act like your father.”
It turned out that being verbally sucker-punched by Hallie was much worse than actually being sucker-punched. She’d said it so calmly and quickly, as if she’d been prepared to use thatline of attack. As if she’d just been waiting for the right moment. “What?”
“Lavinia Richter is one thing. I know I shouldn’t be hurt. It was in the past. I was about to marry Niels, for stars-sake.” She said the words as if in apology, but that couldn’t make up for the other ones she’d needled at him. “If that’s all it was, I could move past that. But…but…”
She took in a shaky breath, shutting the tent flap. “But if all it takes for you to lose your temper is some stupid words…if you think it’s okay to get drunk and gamble away your money…or secrets, or whatever it might be, then I don’t know if I can…”
Kase tried to control not only his temper, but also the urge to pull her into his arms—a true dichotomy. Because if she walked away now, he didn’t know what he’d do. He’d already said goodbye to her once, and he’d hated every minute she was gone. He wet his lips to give him another moment to think and douse the anger warring for his attention.
She thought he was like his father.
The crushing realization she might be right was almost enough for him to run. If it was true, he might indeed lose her, and he wouldn’t survive that.
He kept his words as measured as he could. “When you were at University, Waylan and a bunch of his friends had bets on who would sleep with you first. While yes, I wasn’t in complete control of my faculties due to the amount of straight whiskey I drank, which was indeed a mistake, I did clock him for it. But I’d argue defending your honor doesn’t make me Harlan Shackley.”
Hallie’s cheeks reddened at his words. “Oh.”
She looked down. Kase played with his ring. She didn’t say anything else, and the silence was deafening. She needed time to process his words, but the waiting for her reaction was agonizing. He chewed on the inside of his cheek.
“I kissed Niels.”
Kase stiffened, his anger resurfacing. He tried to tamp it down—judging by her wince, he was unsuccessful. “What?”
A few tears managed to escape her hold at last. She brushed them away with a jerky movement. “I healed him from a bullet wound, and he kissed me.”
“So you kissed him or he kissed you?” Blood roared in his ears. He could barely hear himself think. The man might already be comatose, but Kase would pummel him to dust anyway.
Which wouldn’t help him with Hallie. But shocks, he wanted to.
“He kissed me,” she said, burying her face in her hands. “I didn’t kiss him back. After Jack died, I just up and left and never got closure with him, so…I didn’t think I’d done anything to make him think he had a chance again, but obviously I was wrong.”
Kase opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. He shut it again. All he could hear in his head was the pounding of his heart.
She pressed the heel of her hands into her eyes. “I just wanted to be honest with you.”
He wasn’t sure if those words were a dig at him or not. He had been honest. He should’ve told her about the card game before someone else had, but he hadn’t lied. And who had told her about Lavinia? Surely not Zelda. How could she have known?
It was the comment about the conquest that bothered him. Yes, Lavinia had been a means to an end, and he regretted all of it. But Kase wasn’t the type to use women as a counting stick of any sort. Not in that regard. Lavinia had been using him just as much.
Had Waylan said something? Eravin? Maybe Neville. They were the only ones who knew.
Before he could respond further, the tent flap opened again. Kase turned to ask Petra to let them have a few more minutes, but instead of Hallie’s friend, it was Sergeant’s face that appeared. “Sorry to interrupt, but Lord Jove and Lady Celeste are being brought to the ward. They’d both fallen in the same collapse.”
Hallie’s head whipped toward Kase. “Where have they been? I thought they were in another part of the Catacombs.”
Kase shook his head, the rush of emotions in the last few minutes messing with his comprehension of Sergeant’s words. “What do you mean?”
Jove—his mother. Had he heard the man correctly?
“They found them. They’re alive.”
Chapter 31
