Page 105 of Moonlight Hearts

“You mean when I…don’t die?”

I was looking at the machines, trying to decide which one I wanted to risk, but Soyer stopped dead at my words and made a dark, grumbling sound.“Do not say that.Do not talk about…” He shook his head.“No, I’m sorry.It’s this place, it…it’s me.Forgive me.

“But yes, I think you will be fine.The people who have issues, the people who get strange and out of sync are the ones who hang on to things.Look at Elias to understand what you’re supposed to do.”

My brows crept up my forehead.“You want me to take Elias as my example?”

“Fuck no.He is and has always been a Bad Influence, capitalized.But the one thing Elias is unfailingly good at is understanding the time he lives in.He told you about his degrees.He went to school to catch up with the changing times, whether that was intentional on his part or just healthy instinct.”

I frowned.“I think he just wanted to meet new people.”

Soyer sighed and shook his head in mild exasperation.“You and Elias.I don’t like that you understand each other as well as you do.”

“You don’t?”

“Not literally.”

“I’m not sure that makes a lot of sense, Soyer.”

“Well, then I guess that’s how it is.Look, those ones.”

He pointed me to a claw machine with a mix of fluffy creatures inside.I decided to give it a shot and almost got a fluffy white bunny into the chute, but it slipped out at the last moment.

“They’re rigged.”

Soyer rolled his eyes.“These aren’t, but you have to have skill.Do you want to ask anything else?”

“About living?”

“Yes.I… We never talked about it, or maybe not as much as we should have, but I’ll answer every question you might have.”

I couldn’t help it, it just burst out of me.“Did you go to school?As much as Elias?”

“Hah.This isn’t what I meant.You wanted the bunny?”

“It was closest to my claws.”

“Claws, you?Hardly.Here, let me show you.”

Soyer did just what he’d done when he’d gotten me Oboe.He used a single coin, tossed it, and fed it to the crane machine.Then he moved the controls with precision.He managed to grab the exact bunny that had escaped me, letting it drop into the chute.He picked it up and held it out to me, looking pleased with himself.

I crossed my arms and shook my head.“Nope.We said whichever animal you grab is your spirit animal.”

He frowned.“I grabbed this for you.For demonstration purposes.”

“That’s not how bargaining works, Soyer.”

“Fuck me.This is why I said Elias is bad for you.”

“Elias begs.He doesn’t bargain.”

He huffed.“And you, my heart, have the power to make any man weak in the knees.”He looked at the bunny.“You think this is me?”

“No, I’m saying this is what you got, and thus fate has decided that you are a bunny.”

“Again, fuck me.All this energy, Amory.Do I have to make you go back to working every day if I want to impress you?”

That struck a chord with me, and I opened my arms and moved in to hug him.He was surprised, my firebird, his breath soft against my cheek, his smile pressing against my forehead.