Page 146 of Gravehouse

His grip tightens on my wrists, his other hand sliding into my hair, tangling in the strands and pulling my head back until I have no choice but to look at him.

Blue eyes stare down at me, steady, his split lip still bleeding where I hit him.

“I told you.” His thumb strokes along my hairline. “I’m never letting you go.”

A shudder runs through me, and my hands go loose against his chest.

“He was my father,” I sob, sniffing. “How could he?”

Asher’s arms tighten around me. “I know, baby. I know.”

It sounds ridiculous, to mourn a man who was a monster all along, but the little girl who thought he was the world had no idea what he was.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” My fist hits his chest, barely enough to feel it. “Why didn’t you just?—“

“Because we couldn’t! We didn’t know what the fuck his trigger was. No one did but him!” His hand cups the back of my head, pressing my face into his neck. “Fuck, Ivy. I lived one million different deaths and I’d live two million more if it meant you no longer lived in the househe built.”

He taps my head.

I chuckle, mimicking Emeric’s tone. “There was a house that needed to be built, but first, it needed the foundation and the walls, strong enough to keep everyone and everything out.Until it was time to play house.”

I shake my head. The rhyme was there the whole time and I never saw it. “He built my mind as a house and focused too much on the construction of it while Nonna was filling it with love. Humanity. Friends, and family traditions…”

He kisses my cheek softly, just a brush of bloody lips.

“You need to let me fix your wound,” he whispers. “Are you gonna let me if I release you, or are you gonna try to kill me again?”

The warmth of his chest against mine makes it worse, the guilt settling in my bones.

I put a bullet in him. I—I

He looks down at his hand, at the mess between us. “If you wanted to dabble in some bloodplay, Venom.” The corner of his lip twitches into a smirk. “You could have just asked.”

I don’t laugh.

When he starts to lift his weight off me, I clamp my hand around the back of his neck and hold him there.

He goes still, his breath warm against my lips.

“Ash,” I whisper, my ribs compressing. “I can’t.”

“Ivy?” Luce whispers from behind me and I freeze.

Luce’s hazel eyes catch mine over Asher’s shoulder.

Her face crumples, and she takes one step toward me before stopping with both hands curled against her stomach.

“I’m here,” she says.

Asher turns his head enough to see her, and the movement brings his mouth against my temple.

My skin crawls.

His hands have held me through nightmares. They’ve cleaned blood from my body and tucked blankets around my feet. Those same hands kept Emeric’s name buried while I slept beside him.

I loosen my fingers from Asher’s neck.

“Ash, move.”