He doesn’t want me. He only wanted to prove his point. Prove that I am, in fact,histo do as he pleases. The rejection makes my cheeks sting.
“You,” he growls, a wildness flitting in his eyes. “Make me insane.”
He turns on hisheel and stalks off, body as tense as a coiled spring, leaving the Magi’s body sprawled across the forest floor. He doesn’t speak as he navigates us back to the castle. Doesn’t even spare me a glance.
It feels like another form of punishment for what I’ve done like he’s the disappointed father of a disobedient child.
Once we’re back in his chambers he sweeps into his bedroom without a word. I stare at the door as it slams shut behind him. There’s another thump like he’s leaned himself against the other side of the door. Now with the adrenaline of the confrontation waning, regret prickles over me.
My eyes burn, emotions swelling in an endless cloud of anger, jealousy, shame at what he caught me doing. My body burns hotter. Has been burning as soon as the henbane went up in the flames, skin blistering with the intensity. Arousal so thick, it drowns out all logical reason.
I could go in there…and apologize? My pride stiffens at the notion. I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m nothis.
But I want him. I want him so much. My heart trills, sweat accumulating across my palms as I consider it.
I shake my head. I can’t believe I’m even entertaining the idea, stooping to all time pathetic levels for a man that doesn’t even want to be seen with me.
I prop my head in my hands, elbows digging into my knees as I drag my hands through my hair. Shivery tingles sprout over my scalp and I shudder, clenching my thighs together in an attempt to sate that aching heartbeat. How long is this going to last? I don’t know how much more I can handle.
I flinch when the door comes barreling open. By the time I lift my head, he’s halfway to the door and moving briskly.
Leaving.
He’s leaving.
Only came back to put his pet back in her cage. He’s probably going to go back and find someone else to satiate his fire. Every single fiber of my being screams at me to stop him, panic stiffening up my lungs. I have to saysomething.Anything. Make him come back.
At least…try.
He reaches for the knob. “You’re leaving?” I cringe as the words come out in a pitiful, desperate wisp. He goes completely still except for the steady rise and fall of his shoulders, hand still palming the knob. A long moment passes before he starts to turn back.
I shouldn’t have said anything. There are too many emotions competing and fusing together like ingredients that shouldn’t be mixed over a broiling fire. The jealousy, all consuming, souring my stomach. The want from the henbane but also my own, the one that existed before, slicking me for an act I will likely never experience.
Not here.
Not in this life.
Locked in his chambers.
I know as soon as he turns, he’ll see this absolutely devastated look on my face. The desperation and despair as blatant as a bleeding wound. He’ll turn pitying eyes on me. Because he’s not completely heartless. He’s just been dealt the disadvantage of having to suffer me.
His punishment.
Barely able to intake air, I bolt for the bedroom. I’m almost there, almost to safety when his magic binds around my waist, picks me up, and whips me around. A startled yelp spills out of me, cutting off abruptly with the air puffing from my chest as he slaps me back against the wall.
And, then, he’s there.
Fingers splaying my neck and thumbs squeezing my jaw in a silent communication that seems to speak to his frustration.
Hisdisdain.
Any decipherable thought fragments into a thousand tiny shards as his forehead crams me back into the wall. My hands fall limp to his shoulders as he reaches up, swipes away a tear I didn’t know slipped free.
“Don’t,” he snaps, all harsh and gravel. He tilts his head, lips pressing to my jaw and voice slightly muffled, softer, aplea. “Don’t cry.”
I suck in a sharp breath, searching for lucidity only for my body to betray me with a shudder. His lips press against me more firmly, a punishing crush as he growls against my jaw, making my blood thump so fiercely I’m sure he’ll feel it in my pulse.
If I move my head just to the left his lips will be on mine. My heart hammers harder in anticipation but the pressure of his mouth lightens as he traces further down my jaw, over the slope of my neck. My eyelids drift shut, head lolling to the side, flimsy and quavering like a weed under the whims of a powerful breeze. He inhales me. Once. Retreats. “I need to go.”
