I opened my mouth but decided it was probably best that he believed that. I didn’t want him to be upset with Rhain. “I…” I trailed off, having no idea what to say. The deal he made involved me, but he had been the one who sacrificed. Him that Veses’ cruelty had impacted. This wasn’t about how I felt about it. My horror or anger or agony. There was only one thing I could say. “Thank you.”
The glass shattered in Ash’s hand.
Gasping, I shot to my feet as liquor and glass fell across his knee and onto the floor. Streaks of red smeared his palm. “You cut yourself.”
“I’m fine.” He closed his fingers over the pieces of glass.
“You’re cutting yourself even more!” I bent, grasping his hand as I brushed the shards of glass from his knee and the settee. The charge of energy was stronger. Blood welled between his fingers. “Good gods,” I whispered, returning to sit beside him. “Open your hand.”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“Open your hand, Ash!”
He made no move to do so.
Cursing, I pried his fingers loose. Pieces of glass were embedded deep into his palm, slicing through the golden swirl. The slices free of glass had already begun to heal. “I know you’re a Primal,” I said, straightening his hand out as I placed it against my knee. “And you’ll heal just fine, but I’m also pretty sure you won’t with glass in your hand.”
“You’re going to get blood on your dress,” he stated.
“I don’t care.” I picked out a sliver of glass, dropping it onto the small table. “It’s not like I’ll wear it again.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t think one wears their wedding dress more than once.” I dug out another larger piece. Ash hissed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t—” He drew in a deep breath. “Don’t apologize. Don’t thank me.”
I briefly closed my eyes, cursing at myself. I wanted to apologize again because I’d obviously said the wrong thing.
“And you can wear the damn dress again whenever you feel like it.”
Nodding, I swallowed as I plucked out another piece. The scent of his blood washed over me as I smoothed my thumb over the imprint, searching for specks of glass I couldn’t see.
“Is that why you call me Ash now?”
“What?” I looked back at him.
His flesh had thinned, deepening with shadows. “Because you learned that I’ve been Veses’ personal blood meal and suddenly realized you wanted to be my Consort?”
“No.”
His beautiful mouth twisted into a cold, cruel smirk. “Really,liessa?”
“No,” I repeated. “I told you I wanted to be your Consortbefore.”
“But that changed.”
“It did. Because I didn’t know everything when it came to her, and I…” I turned back to his palm, seeing that several more places still seeped blood. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
“You won’t.”
I scraped a tiny piece of glass out with my nail. “I just did.”
“That has nothing to do with you,” he bit out. “Speak.”
His tone would’ve set me off at any other time, but not now. “My feelings were hurt when I saw you two together. That changed what I wanted. You know that. But now that I know why you two…were together, my thoughts on it have changed.”
“We weren’ttogether,” he stated, and the temperature of the room dropped.