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As I shut it behind me, I found him pacing up and down by the study area, tugging at his hair, in clear distress.

He spun at my entrance, his eyes wide. “About what you saw, Kai, I just—”

“I’m not upset.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You’re not?”

“Did you get the relief that you needed?”

“I… I mean, yeah.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

“I don’t think it’sallthat matters.”

I tossed him the scarf. “You left that behind.”

He fumbled to catch it. Given how incredibly agile and athletic that he was from his Incubus side, it really spoke to how nervous, out of sorts, and upset that he still was, despite my assurances.

“He and I have made peace.”

“You have? Just like that?”

“He makes a better ally than an enemy. And his intentions toward Ariana aren’t detrimental. In fact, they fall in line withmine—to an extent that I’m satisfied with, anyway.”At least, for now.

He frowned at me.

“What?”

“You’re all about controlling things to your liking. It’s a defense mechanism you developed because your whole life was mapped out for you by your parents and—”

“Refrain from the psychoanalyzing, and state your point instead.”

“Right, I almost forgot how much you hate that.”

“Impossible. You’re obviously pissed off at me. Is it because you misinterpreted me being pissed at you when I walked in on you getting your cock serviced by someone who was virtually an enemy to me at the time?”

“Wow… so it did bother you?”

“I told you that I’m not upset about it.”

“About the act itself, is what you mean. You’re talking around it like you usually do when feelings are too complicated or unsettling to you.”

“Stop reading my emotions.”

“You’re giving me no choice when you’re not being even close to transparent. Do you really want something like this festering between us?”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “It bothered me that you went to him when, at the time, we were on opposite sides. That you, my brother-in-arms, would go to an enemy of mine. But I also understand why you did it. You realized that he wasn’t impacted by your abilities, what he could give you, and that wasn’t something you could pass up. I’d imagine that it was absolutely intoxicating. So incredibly freeing.”

“Did you really manipulate Ariana’s repression against her in order to get what you wanted from her?”

I started in surprise. “That’swhy you did it? That was a factor, too? Your faith was shaken in me at the time?”

“No. Itiswhat threw me off track when I was dreamwalking with him, though.”

“He pointed that out to you.”

“He fed me a memory of what he’d overheard between you and her.”