Page 27 of Demon’s Snack
Corin flexes his fingers and pulls them from the fountain ledge. “You should not be near me when that happens.”
“I think I may be part of why it stops.”
He goes quiet.
The bond warms between us, softer now but still insistent. I feel the truth of what I said without fully understanding it. When I stepped between him and Talen, his hunger recoiled from crossing through me. Not because I controlled it. Because the bond redirected the pathway before violence could complete itself.
He hears something in my silence. “Isolde.”
“I need more observations.”
“Of course you do.”
“I need controlled conditions.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It should.”
He rubs a hand over his face, then looks toward the registry where Talen disappeared. “You know this is madness, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. As long as we’re both keeping up.”
“I am keeping up quite well.”
“You arranged an outing, met a hybrid in a courtyard, watched him nearly eat a guard’s soul, and then asked for controlled conditions. I don’t know what your definition of keeping up is, but it’s got a limp.”
The laugh escapes me before I can restrain it. This one is fuller than the last, brief but real, and his expression changes when he hears it. The hunger does not flare. The bond does, but gently, filling the space between us with warmth that feels dangerously close to relief.
I look down first.
“I have to go,” I say.
“I know.”
“I will find another opportunity.”
“That sounds like trouble.”
“It is research.”
“Same coat, different buttons.”
I adjust the folio strap and meet his eyes once more. “Do not come to the window tonight.”
His face tightens. “Why?”
“Because Talen saw us, and he is embarrassed. Embarrassed men with access to estate guards become loud in search of dignity.”
“Will you be safe?”
The question lands with such direct concern that the bond pulls tight again. I hold his gaze, aware of the public courtyard around us and the impossibility of answering honestly.
“I know how to survive that house.”
“That is not what I asked.”
