Page 58 of Balance

Bianca’s voice was so soft that I almost missed it. “You’re not an idiot.”

I lifted my eyes, meeting hers. She hadn’t moved, but the darkness was fading from her expression.

“I know you think I am,” I offered, unable to hold back my grin. She was communicating again. “You’ve always been able to spot the holes in my logic.”

“I still don’t think you’re anidiot.” Bianca blinked, curling further into herself. “I think you do things without thinking. There’s a difference.”

A warm feeling spread from my chest—embarrassment. I ran my hand over the back of my neck. I couldn’t let this get to me.

“That’s what I need you for,” I admitted.

“You do.” She didn’t bother to deny it.

She could have at least hesitated, even briefly…

“I jump to conclusions a lot,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I’m trying to work on it. I just don’t understand…” Her words trailed off, and she grimaced, guilt radiating from her every pore.

My internal alarms blared; she was hiding something.

What didn’t she understand?

“Never mind.” She glanced away, her expression closing once again.

I couldn’t let it go, I couldn’t. My attention was refocusing entirely on this.

What was she hiding from me?

‘Mu has always been hiding things from you,’ Kiania’s playful voice echoed through our bond, and my gaze narrowed. Even the shikigami knew. ‘It’s for your own good.’

But was it really?

“Is there something I should know?” I asked Bianca. Questioning Kiania would be useless, it was impossible to coerce a bonded familiar without risking the health of the onmyoji bonded to it.

And probably Bianca as well.

“No,” she lied, closing in on herself once more.

‘Let her keep her secrets,’ Kiania warned, a trace of her old, serious fire returning. ‘Weren’t you more concerned with other matters?’

The fight fled from me and my shoulders slumped. Whatever this was, it was a different battle. One that we could focus on later. This matter needed to be cleared up first.

Icouldn’tlet Bianca run from this. Right now, this was an issue of safety.

“Iamsorry, but I do need to ask again.” And I really was regretful, but I couldn’t just let this one go. “Can you explain to me what that was all about earlier?Beforethe argument?”

She sucked in a breath, her eyes refilling with unshed tears.

“I’m not going to judge you,” I told her, hoping that she caught the honesty in my statement. After everything she’d gone through, I wouldn’t blame her.

All that was important was that it was in the past and she’d moved on. Because if this was an ongoing issue…

“I-i-itwasan accident.” She shivered. “I really didn’t mean for it to happen.”

This wasn’t deflection, her tone was too sure for that. But then how…

“Tell me.” My breath seized in anticipation, especially when she moved, wrapping her fingers around my wrist. “What happened?”

“Don’t look at me,” Bianca said, an underlying plea to her voice. Like the aftermath of the last time, she’d looked so broken. She’d reached out, needing me to hold her as she cried.