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14
KENNEDY
“Hey, are you okay?”
I startle at Sydney’s hand on my shoulder and let out an embarrassed laugh before running my hands over my hair. “Yeah, I’m good.” I look down at the table I’m sitting at, trying to recall anything she or Lacy said before I zoned out.
I don’t know why I’m so hurt. It was supposed to have been only a single night of fun with Blaze, before the guys the Santi Pastori hired showed up. I’m leaving when this is all done—starting over with a new name and a new life.
So why does it hurt so much that Blaze said he’s just having fun with me because there’s no one else around?
“You can trust the Knights,” Lacy says, assuming that I’m distracted by thoughts of the bounty on my head. She stares down at the slips of papers with names and then the seating arrangement she’s working on. “When Eddie—my abusive ex—showed up trying to get me back, the club had no reason to rally around me, but they did.”
Sydney bumps the pregnant blonde with a bony hip and a laugh before heading past the dining table and into the kitchen. “I’m sure it has nothing at all to do with the fact that Cinder was head over heels for you and too chicken-shit to do anything about it.”
We’re at Lacy’s house for the day, since she insisted on getting away from the clubhouse to plan her and Cinder’s bonding ceremony. From what I’ve seen so far, it looks the same as a wedding, but from the way the guys talk about it, I know I’m missing something.
Looking around, I can see where Lacy has started to redecorate into a more modern style. She inherited the house from her grandma, and apparently it’d been stuck right smack in the early ‘80s, paisley couch and doilies included. The rectangular dining table reminds me of my own late grandparents’ dining table, the solid oak ones with the embellished legs on each end and the ability to put an extender in the middle and make it longer for the family at holidays. But the rest of the dining room—which had once been done in pink-striped wallpaper, apparently—is bright with white walls and showcases a glass pendant light with silver hardware. Silver curtains with white abstract swirls frame the two windows along the outside wall.
It won’t win any interior design contests, and that’s okay. The room feels like a home, a place for friends and family to gather around the table for a meal or a board game after dinner. There’s even a highchair tucked away in the corner, ready to be used when Lacy and Cinder’s baby is big enough.
Lacy laughs, pulling me back to the present, and I smile. I can’t not smile when Lacy laughs. I don’t think anyone could. Lacy’s just that type of person. She’s bubbly and full of light, but not in a way that pisses you off. I’m not surprised Cinder calls her sunshine.
“Okay, yeah, but at the time I thought he had no clue who I was,” Lacy says before taking the soda Sydney offers on her way back into the room.
The woman is the opposite of Lacy in so many ways, but it’s clear the love they have for each other. Definitely the grumpy one in their friendship, Sydney sits down again beside Lacy, sliding another can of soda to me.
“Anyways, Lacy is right,” Sydney says while cracking open her can. “I might have my own issues with some of them, but the Knights are good people. Demons.” She waves her hand. “Whatever.”
“I almost wish they weren’t,” Lacy grumbles before I can say anything. “Because then I wouldn’t be trying to figure out where to seat everyone in this town at the reception.”
“Still don’t see why you can’t have it at The Styx,” Sydney says. “I know it’s smaller than the town grange, but people can come and go, can’t they?”
Lacy groans and drops her head back. If she could manage around her large belly, I think she’d have thrown her head down on the table.
“Because apparently a binding ceremony is—” Lacy holds up air quotes without raising her head—“‘too important’ to be treated like a regular party.”
I prop my chin on my hand, my other hand fiddling with my soda’s still-closed pull-tab, and take the opening to satisfy my curiosity. “What is a binding ceremony? From what I’ve been hearing I’ve gathered it’s basically a wedding, but it’s clearly not.”
Lacy hauls her head up, groaning like it takes a herculean effort. Her lips scrunch to the side as she thinks about something before meeting my gaze. “So, you know the stories about people trading their souls to the devil in a bargain?” At my nod, she continues. “Some demons actually do bargain in souls, but it’s not every demon. From what Cinder has told me, all demons can take a mortal’s soul, though.”
Sydney nods. “Some use it to be more powerful and others use it in their magic. Apparently, there are a ton of different ways a soul can be used.”
An uneasy ache forms in my chest, and I have to stop myself from rubbing it. The idea of a demon taking my soul is fucking weird and scary. I can’t ever see Blaze doing that, though, strangely enough.
“Anyway,” Lacy picks back up. “A binding ceremony is for a demon and a mortal who are mates.” Before I can ask, she explains. “Humans don’t usually have them, but supernatural creatures do. So vampires, shifters, witches—”
“And demons,” I finish.
Lacy nods, her blonde hair swaying above her shoulders. “And demons. Which is where we get the idea of soulmates from, because that’s basically what it is. Well, a binding ceremony is different for each creature. I only know about demons, because I’m obviously planning one. Demons—and the others—can recognize their mate if they’re a human, even though it’s not as instantaneous. During the binding, I’ll give Cinder my soul to bind with his. This means I’ll basically stop aging, and my lifespan is connected to his.”
Lacy’s eyes go dreamy while she’s talking about the binding. Sydney puts her soda can down harder than necessary, making Lacy and I jump and look at her. She’s glowering at the top of the can like it’s a pile of dog poop. “Yeah, and if he dies, you die. Also, if there’s any prolonged distance and time apart, you lose your vitality. Become a walking ghost. Like all the color has just been drained out of you. Oh yeah, let’s not forget how you won’t dream, either.”
My brows shoot upwards at the vitriol in her voice. I look back at Lacy, trying to understand what I’m clearly missing, but she’s looking at Sydney with just as much confusion.
“Well, yeah,” Lacy says. “But if Cinder has to stay far enough away, for long enough, that it happens, I know there will be a good reason. I also know he’ll come back, and then it’ll be like it never happened.”
Sydney snorts with derision, turning a skeptical look at Lacy before it melts off her face. Lacy’s hurt is evident, and Sydney’s shoulders drop. “I’m sorry, Lacy. I know you trust Cinder. This is just my own bullshit issue that I shouldn’t put onto you.”
