Page 59 of Ensnared

I shake my head. “I never even considered leaving with him.”

“Yet.”

I roll my eyes.

“Do you want him here? Or were you just trying to keep him safe?”

“Does it matter? It’s done.”

“Do you love him?” The word love, coming from Axel, sounds bizarre.

“Do you even know what love is?” My words are soft, because I hope that Coral, Jade, and Sammy won’t hear. But also, because I’m not sure that I want to know the answer.

“I’ve read about it,” he says. “I’ve watched human movies that talk about it a lot.”

“So that’s a no.”

“What does it mean to you?”

He likes to ask the really impossible questions. “It’s. . .”

“Also, you didn’t answer. You deflected.”

“I’m trying to answer,” I say. “It’s a complicated question.”

“Not that one—my first one. Do you love that man?”

“Oh.”

He really does ask hard questions.

“I don’t know,” I finally say. He can feel my emotions, so I can’t just lie. “I don’t want him to get hurt. I don’t want him to be in danger. Does that count as love?”

Axel shrugs. “I’m the wrong one to ask.”

Clearly.

“I don’t want you to be hurt,” Axel says. “I don’t want you to be in danger. Does that mean I love you?”

Gideon’s out of the shower and standing in the hallway behind Axel, and he looks ready to try and murder him. “Don’t you have humans to terrorize?”

Axel’s wry smile is bitter, but only I can see it. “Make sure you don’t get confused. I’d hate to be forced to kill him.”

But that’s clearly a lie. He wouldn’t hate it at all.

13

After giving me the daggers, Axel all but disappeared, but now that Gideon’s here, I can’t shake him for anything. Whatever was keeping him busy must have either resolved itself, or it wasn’t that pressing after all.

Usually I’m actually almost happy to see him, but right now, he’s just making me uncomfortable. Gideon’s reunion with the rugrats should be exciting. Sammy shrieks and races toward him to give him a huge hug. Coral and Jade beam and wrap their arms around him, too.

But Axel’s glaring so openly that it sets my teeth on edge.

“How did you even get here?” Jade asks.

“He’s alive because I didn’t kill him,” Axel volunteers.

“Thanks,” Sammy says. “I’m glad.” It sounds like gwad, but Axel understands him pretty much all the time now.