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There it is again, that false concern.

Sure thing, boss.

A thousand different worlds surround me; tales of adventure, fantasy, romance. The air is tinged with the comforting scent of paper and ink. My fingertips graze over the different shelves, feeling the cool spines of every book.

I’ve never once tried to make Fall Haven my home. I own nothing except the clothes I wear. It’s all I’ve ever needed. Personal items do nothing but tie you down.

For me, reading is an escape. Life not what you want it? Drift away to someone else’s. You don’t like the story? No problem, choose a new one. It’s my one guilty pleasure.

I’ve already read all the books in the guest house, some more than once. I’d mentioned this to Liya sometime during our hour-long conversation over the link following my departure from the park, so she met up with me and brought me here, hoping to fill whatever it is that’s missing inside me. Unfortunately, this is a void that can’t be filled with pages.

It was fun to look though, and I can’t express how grateful I am to Liya for bringing me here. Not only for my love of books, but for being a friend when I desperately needed one. She has no idea how much her presence has helped me each and every time she’s been around.

As we step through the exit, a hand brushes over my arm, a touch familiar enough I don’t even have to look to know who it belongs to. “Hey, human, what’s up?” Ashen asks.

I roll my eyes, pulling out of his reach. “You can tell your stalker of a friend I’ll be home whenever I please, and to not send his henchmen out to spy on me, thanks.”

“Henchmen? If anything, I’m the stalker. Not to worry though, sweetheart. I have no interest in pursuing you, nor did anyone send me.” Ashen glances to my right, seeing the girl at my side. “Think you could tell your guard dog to back off? I just want to give you something.”

I’m more tempted to let her use him as a chew toy. The parasites, however, are my problem, so I assure her I’ll be okay and promise to meet up with her later.

Once she’s gone, I look back to Ashen, who smiles his stupid charming smile.

“Whatever you have, I promise I don’t want it.”

“Maybe.” He shrugs, stepping to the bottom of the stairway and taking a seat. When I don’t follow, Ashen pats the space beside him, prompting me to join. With the cross of my arms and a loud sigh, I do.

“Is it another drugged potion?”

“Hey, now, that wasn’t me, remember? But I am sorry it happened. I didn’t know how bad it was until you, ya know, said you were spit on then gave me the death knee to my crotch.” He nudges me with his elbow. “That bruise took for damn ever to heal, by the way.”

“Good,” I respond.

I do believe Ashen when he says he wasn’t part of it. I know he left, and at the point where I heard him again, it wasn’t until after most of what happened, happened. It’s just hard not to box him in with the group he hangs out with. And maybe I have a hard time admitting that a friend so close to Rhenn could actually be…decent.

“I don’t want you to have the wrong impression of Siena. I know what you said she did, and I don’t think that’s something you would just make up⁠—”

“I didn’t make it up.”

“Right,” he answers, looking at his feet before facing me again. “I’m not saying it was okay for her to do what she did, but you have to understand it came from a place of fear.”

“Ha!” Fear? Fucking fear? She stole my necklace, slapped me across the face, then later straddled me in the woods while I cried for help because she was afraid? Not freaking likely. She’s psychotic. And Ashen’s right there with her if he thinks there’s anything more than charred vinegar and salt beneath her pretty exterior.

“She was worried you were taking her place. I mean, she had it in her head that Rhenn and her would seal the bond someday, even with his reckoning coming up. So, when you came around, and that’s where his attention went, you can see how that upset her, right?”

It’s not my fault the blood sucker chose to spend his time making my life miserable instead of gallivanting around with his overly possessive faerie.

Regardless, Ashen has my attention. “Seal the bond?”

He gives me a small smile. “I believe sealing the bond is your human equivalent to marriage, only it’s deeper. More permanent. Like tethering two souls together. A merging so complete that even time can’t unravel it.”

Siena wanted that? With Rhenn?

I loosen the cross my arms held around my waist, placing both of my hands at my sides as my focus falls to the ground. “Sounds intense.” I glance back to Ashen, trying not to let that knowledge have any effect on me, even as a small, bitter weight settles in my chest at the thought Rhenn might have wanted that with her too.

“And the reckoning? What’s that?”

Ashen shakes his head. “Look, I’m not really here to talk about any of that.” He reaches into his pocket. “Are you happy here?”