Chapter 15: No Price

We flew back to Austin that night, and I did not say a word on the plane.

Ronan did not ask me to.

He only read the message from Joanie once more and put his phone face down on the seat between us.

The door log was gone, and Peyton had been the last one near the server room.

Without it I could not prove who had come and gone from the finance office in three years.

At the guest house he put the kettle on and stood with his back to the counter, and I sat at the table with my hands around nothing.

Slade had offered me his seat, his house and every account in the territory.

I had said no to all of it, and it had felt right, and I could not stop shaking.

"Ask me," Ronan said.

"Ask you what?"

"Whatever's making you look at me like that."

I looked at the silver disc on its chain at my neck, then at him.

"Everything has a price," I said. "I've said it to you twice."

"You have."

"Slade's price was a baby and my obedience. Peyton's was my sister. Your elders put a price on me in a parking lot."

"I know."

"So I want to hear yours. The lawyer, the guest house, the mark. I'd rather know now."

He crossed the kitchen and stopped in front of my chair.

He crouched so his eyes were level with mine.

"I haven't got one," he said. "There's one thing I want, and you can't pay for it."

"What?"

"For you to ask. For something. Anything. Once, without having to be sure it won't cost you."

My throat closed.

For three years I had asked Slade for permission, and for money, and for ten minutes of his time.

Nobody had ever asked me to want something.

"I saw a doctor today," I said. "Joanie made me. I'm cleared."

His whole body went still.

"I told you I'd be clear-headed when I asked," I said. "My head is clear. Everything hurts, and it's clear."

"Nessa."

"I'm asking."

I stood up, and he stood with me.

I put my palms flat against his chest and felt his heart going hard under my hands.

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