78 Prejudice Is Taught Not Born (1/2)
All the vampires in the Cromwell coven blended together and were hard to tell apart but he was impossible to miss because of the emotion in his face. She had never been so happy to see anyone in her life until she realized her glamour was off.
Her first instinct was to cover her hideous face but she couldn't so much as twitch a finger. The pain had completely wiped her out and she didn't have an ounce of strength left.
Ash was staring at her but wasn't recoiling in disgust. His expression was the same worried one she had seen a dozen times before. If anything, he was more desperate to look at her than usual. He drank in the sight of her like he was dying of thirst and she was the only thing that could save him.
That was puzzling. Why would he react like that? Wasn't he mad at her for running straight into the clutches of his enemy without consulting him?
Then he had to go and confuse her even more by touching her face and kissing her forehead, gazing at her with more tenderness than she had ever seen from him. Like she was his girlfriend or something.
It wasn't like Ruby disliked it but she was too weak to even squeak out a protest that they weren't like that and he shouldn't do things that could be easily misconstrued. He always had a tiny bit of a boundary problem because of his formerly sheltered life and it frequently led to her mortification.
She felt too awful to do anything as he went off to kill Dorian and complete his revenge. She missed part of their conversation because her head was so fuzzy but then Ash came back and said Flora was safe and that they should go home.
That was perhaps the most confusing part of all. Home? What home? She and Flora were currently homeless.
There was no reason for her to continue staying at the castle now that his revenge was complete. She would have to find a place to raise her baby cousin. Flint and Lily's old house was out considering they died there.
Was he going to let her continue staying in the castle until she found a place to go or what? Why would he do that if he was mad at her? None of this made sense. Ruby's head hurt on top of everything else so it was difficult to think straight.
”Would you like to use my lap as a pillow while you regain your strength?” Ash offered.
That would be more comfortable than the ground but it would also be super weird because of his overly affectionate actions earlier that she still didn't understand. But she was in too much pain to argue.
”Sure.”
One of his icy hands was resting on her shoulder protectively as well. It was a warm summer night so she didn't mind but was a bit curious why he was doing it.
There were a lot of things Ruby was curious about so she started with the one that weighed on her mind most. It was more of a statement than a question because it was fairly obvious from the look on his face.