Page 78 of Inextricably Tied

“Doesn’t mean you’re bad.” The words stun her, but she doesn’t retract them. “You could hurt bad people.”

Agony’s smile wavers. “Making excuses for me again?”

“That’s what Flint’s done.” That stops Agony, his hand hovering off her leg. They both stare at it, breath caught in their throats, waiting. “Hurt bad people to keep them from hurting someone else. Hurt bad people for good reason. Hurt bad people if you have to.”

Agony’s fingers flex over her leg. The forest quiet grows so loud.

“Better be careful.” His fingers meet her ankle, a brush of wind against bare skin. “Keep sweet-talking like that, and I’ll think you want to keep me.”

“Maybe I do.”

She’s on her back before she realizes, wind knocked out of her. Agony hovers over her, a hand around her throat. Neither of them moves, chests rising and falling in tandem. Agony’s eyes follow his thumb across her lip, the gentlest touch he’s ever given her. “That’s a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“You can’t want that.” His gaze is still honed on her mouth, like he can’t believe himself. Like the words are coming from somewhere else. “You can’t want both.”

“I do.” There’s no hesitation. It thrums through their connection, a convoluted emotion, a complex feeling. “I want you both.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

“I do.”

“Do you?” His mouth twitches in pain. “You want a guardian to ruin, and a monster to keep. Do you really think that can work?”

Not a monster, she thinks. My monster. Mine.

Agony shudders like he hears her. She stays back from the cliff’s edge, but she stares down into the waves crashing against her desires.

“This is a dream,” she breathes. “Anything’s possible.”

Agony smiles sadly. Fingers trail down her throat before he sinks back into the shadows, one thought echoing through the forest.

It’s not just a dream to me.

Then Agony’s glowing face snuffs out.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Agony

Flint can rarely be considered soft. Even in his calmest moments, his body is a fortress, strong and sturdy with a chest like a castle battlement. But when he looks at Harbinger, it’s a contrast, eyes open and vulnerable while his body wars with itself.

Agony never thought he’d understand it. But when he returns from Harbinger’s dream, floating and hazy, there’s something soft against his back. Heavy warmth drapes across his chest until he’s conscious enough to recognize it.

Flint sleeps on his side behind Agony, the swell of his stomach nudging Agony’s back with his breath. Flint grinds his teeth, arm draped over Agony like a stuffed toy cradled against him.

It’s enough to make Agony chuckle. That jerks Flint out of sleep, pushing up in the bed and blinking to place the sound before he realizes.

Agony rolls onto his back, stretching hands behind his head. “Comfy?”

Flint tugs back the blanket. “Making sure you didn’t try anything.”

“Seems like you were trying something.” Agony shoots a grin at Harbinger sleeping on Flint’s other side before he’s struck by how…right it is.

Flint won’t look Agony in the face. “It wasn’t like that.”

That digs into Agony’s chest, but he keeps his face aloof. “You’re bad at this. Lying.”