Page 315

“Clairaudience was never my strongest gift.”

“But you hear Death.”

“And the shadows. I always assumed the two were connected.”

He hummed thoughtfully, low and resonant, the sound as warm in my chest as the fire had been. I’d never stop staring at this man to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Never stop thanking every entity that had allowed him to come back to me. Never scrub the stickiness of his blood from my hands or the sound of that rattle from the place it haunted inside me.

“Do you?” I pressed. “Hear him, I mean. Your God.”

“Yeshua resonates most for me. Especially… well, now.”

“What’s that mean?”

He smiled weakly but shook his head. “Long story.”

“Got somewhere else to be?”

He chuckled, brow arching pointedly. “About a hundred and thirty clicks west.”

I grinned, shaking my head up at him. “Not gonna be an ounce of fat left on me when this is over.”

“Grayshell will provide—make sure those curves stay right where I like them.”

“Wouldn’t like me as lean as your warriors?”

“I will love you in all your forms, Mags. If you want to train with the hierarchy, so be it. But damn, do I love having something to hold onto.” His smile was understated, equal parts pleased and mischievous—not the full-wattage grin I missed so desperately, but gods, did I want to know what images ran through his mind to make it.

“I always thought I’d magically make my boobs smaller someday.” I choked back my laugh at the pained expression on his face. “Thighs, too.”

“Fuck that,” he growled, tugging me closer against him. “Look, I know I’m probably supposed to spout some rhetoric about you doing whatever you want, but you’re perfect and the fact that you think otherwise makes me irrationally violent toward whatever piece of shit planted that idea in your head.”

I shrugged one shoulder, my throat suddenly too tight. “Not one person to target, I fear.”

“Fuck ‘em all.”

I wrinkled my nose, giggling when his eyes narrowed on my face.

“Not what I meant, trouble.”

“I know. But it’s fun to rile you.”

“No more riling. This mission has that covered, I assure you.”

“I know. Were you praying?” I nodded toward the direction he’d vanished.

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“Nothing. It’s like that sometimes.” His sigh sounded like it carried the weight of every decision we’d made so far, all of it leaving him at once. “Like some lessons are meant to be lived rather than delivered. I wondered if your experience mirrored mine.”

I nodded softly. “Yeah. You could say that. My shadows only speak to me when something is… urgent. Life or death, mostly.”

“Intriguing.”

“Thank you, by the way.”

“For?”