Page 29

“ J ase,” his name fell from my lips in a soft exhale. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Brother?” Nico broke the silence that had fallen upon the room.

Jase nodded, his head bowed in respect. “Nico.”

Sawyer shifted his gaze around the room, as though mapping out an exit plan. “I take it you know this male?”

“Sawyer, this is our brother—Jase. He was taken captive the night of the Crownspire,” Nico said.

“It’s really you,” Fallon whispered, afraid to startle the specter impersonating her brother. She jumped up, rushing him and embraced him in a vice-like hug.

Lu watched in disbelief, his brow furrowed and his jaw slack. “How… how are you here?”

“It’s nice to see you too,” Jase snarked back at Lu’s question. The tension in the room grew thicker by the second.

“No, really, how are you here? The cells in Mathenholm are inescapable.” Luca’s eyes narrowed.

“Did Johan release you? Where are Hunter and Finn?” Nico questioned.

“What a lovely welcome from my family.” Jase reached up, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I assume Hunter and Finn are still at Mathenholm? Does it really matter how I escaped?”

Why was everyone so concerned about how he got here? He was here—safely away from Johan. What else mattered?

I made my way to his side. His handsome face was swollen and mottled with bruises.

A large, oozing laceration over his right eye left caked trails of dried blood along his cheek.

The celebratory attire he wore the night of the Crownspire was filthy, tattered, and dappled with macabre stains.

Seeing him like this made my heart ache.

His brothers were clearly taken aback by his return, and their interrogation only added to my sympathies.

Were they not happy he was safe? I felt compelled to pull him aside and nurse his wounds.

“Jase, since no one else has said it,” I side eyed Nico, “welcome home. Please, let me help you settle in.” I spoke to him as though he were a fear-stricken animal on the verge of bolting. Offering my hand, I silently pleaded for his acceptance.

“Go with Michaela and get yourself cleaned up. We'll finish things here,” Nico dismissed him.

Fallon jumped into action, heading straight for the kitchen. “We’ll heat some water. You need a proper bath.”

Jase scowled at his family’s commanding tone. “I don’t need her help. But I see what’s going on here. I’d rather not speak in front of all these…” He looked around the room. “Who are these peasants anyway?”

The room remained awkwardly silent. Everyone’s eyes were on the new Bruin.

I didn’t understand the response to his return.

One less of our group was trapped in harm’s way.

And Jase added one more able body to our ranks.

Those months my sister had been missing in Neverland…

I would’ve given my life to have her home safely.

I didn’t care where she had been or what had happened.

I was just happy to have her back. He didn’t deserve this interrogation—at least not the moment he arrived.

“I’ll fill you in later,” Nico said and I could tell by his tone that he was losing patience.

Refusing to take my hand, Jase reluctantly followed me back into the king’s room. “I’m sure we can find you something clean?—”

Before I could finish my sentence, he began to strip—pulling off his shirt and revealing another large, dark purple bruise over the right side of his ribcage.

He was no stranger to torture. The word traitor had been carved into his chest, a punishment for meddling in Neverland’s affairs.

The corded, shiny scars were still clearly legible.

I tried not to imagine the horrors he’d endured at the hands of Johan.

Fallon showed herself in, walking straight to the washroom with buckets in tow. “Give me a minute. I’ll be back with more,” she said, quickly heading back out of the room.

“The tub is?—”

“I know where the tub is, Michaela.”

“Sorry, of course you would know. Would you like some privacy?”

A delicate knock at the door interrupted our awkward exchange. Fallon was back with more buckets.

“My Divine,” she cursed under her breath. “You look like shit. What did they do to you?”

“Don’t act like you care now,” he chided. “Make yourself useful and give me one of your brimshade cigarettes. I could use some pain relief.”

Fallon reached into her pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and handed it to him. She looked at me for assurance, as if leaving me alone with her brother was cause for concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“We’re fine. You can finish up with the others.” I reassured her.

The click of the door closing behind her ushered in an awkward silence. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent her away so quickly?

Jase wasted no time lighting the brimshade, sighing with relief as he exhaled a large plume of pale grey smoke.

“I’m sorry about your brothers. I imagine that was not the way you envisioned your return.”

“They are what they are. Sovereignty requires a certain level of suspicion. But no, it didn’t go how I imagined.”

“May I help… clean your wounds?”

He huffed. “Would that make you feel useful, little human?”

“I sincerely want to help. You’ve clearly been through something horrific. Allow me to bring you some modicum of comfort.”

He didn’t answer but turned and walked to the washroom, dropping his pants in the entryway. “Are you coming to help, or was the offer all talk?”

I swallowed my inhibitions and followed him. Before I abandoned all decorum, I turned my back on him while he poured the warm water into the tub and sat down.

“What’s the matter, Mic? Never seen a naked male before?”

“I just—I… Uhh.”

He laughed and took a long drag from the brimshade. “You won’t be much help from over there.”

“It’s called being polite,” I said, turning around. If he wanted an audience, who was I to deny him? “But clearly, you’re not shy.”

I didn’t know where to start. I’d never bathed anyone but myself—especially not someone I felt an otherworldly attraction to.

I grabbed the small sponge floating in the tub and started to wash his well-muscled back.

A sizable tattoo of a snarling bear head sat in the center of his frame.

Thick smoke swirled up from behind the large figure and trailed across his shoulder blades, curling up over his broad back.

He sighed, relaxing into the bath. His shoulders dropped and rounded forward.

“Your tattoo is beautiful. Does the smoke represent your power?”

“How about you mind your business.” His response was abrupt, taking me by surprise.

“I was simply making small talk. I wasn’t trying to pry.” I was beginning to second-guess my desire to help him. Jase had never agreed with me coming to Hiraeth. From the very beginning, he’d questioned Lu’s decision to help me with the Tribulation.

“You gonna help wash my front too?” he quipped, shifting the conversation.

“I think you’re fully capable of washing yourself,” I shot back, resisting the urge to jab his bruised ribs. “Let me see your face.”

He turned to look at me, a sarcastic smile plastered across his rugged features.

“This cut above your eye is covered in filth. On second thought, so is your hair. Let’s start there.”

“Sorry, Johan didn’t offer proper bathing facilities to his prisoners,” he mocked.

“I wasn’t reprimanding you,” I clarified, filling the bucket.

Closing his eyes, Jase tilted back his head, allowing me to wet his blood-caked hair.

I could almost hear a faint purr rumbling from his chest as I massaged his scalp.

There were no visible wounds on his head—just dried blood from the gash above his eye.

I continued to wash his hair in silence, giving him a moment of peaceful pleasure.

After a final rinse, I turned his face back toward me.

“This is probably going to sting,” I warned, gently dabbing at the swollen cut.

He winced at my touch. “Why are you doing this?”

I paused, staring into his icy blue eyes.

“That’s a great question. I’m beginning to wonder that myself.

” He put on an impeccable facade, but if you took a moment to really look, deep within his gaze was tremendous pain.

I was all too familiar with masking for the sake of my loved ones. I could see right through it.

I hesitated, debating whether to pour my heart out to him. To tell him that my soul demanded I take care of him. That I knew that we were all connected, whether we liked it or not. “Because even though I shouldn’t… I care.”

He stared at me, silent. And for a moment, I swore I saw a smile start to claim the corner of his mouth.

“Lu told me.”

“Told you what?”

“That we’re all—fated.”

He laughed, his defenses snapping back into place. “Did he?” He told you we are all fated?”

“He said?—”

“I don’t care what he said. Did he explain that none of us know what that even means? That no human has ever been fated to a Hiraethian? Not once in the history of our realm has it ever been documented.”

“Well, no.” I continued cleaning up his face, avoiding his gaze. Lu definitely hadn’t mentioned any of those things. “He didn’t say?—”

“Did he tell you that there has never been a case of fated mates involving more than two souls?”

“I don’t know what any of it means,” I admitted. “But I feel something I can’t explain.” I was losing my nerve. Jase had made some good points, and I was beginning to question everything. “Do you not feel a connection?”

He scoffed. “I find you attractive, sure. That doesn’t mean we’re fated. Lots of females get my dick hard. What makes you think you’re special?”

My heart sank. “I guess to you, I’m not,” I said it matter-of-factly, mimicking his nonchalant remark. I wouldn’t let him know he had landed a blow.

“Just because your likeness is in the Book of Ast—” He paused and took a deep breath. “Look, I’m not saying there isn’t something going on here. But fated mates. It’s simply not possible. We’re not even the same species. It’s not natural.”