Instead, he shrugged off his coat. He stepped closer—close enough for his heat to spill into me even through the rain—and draped it over my shoulders. For a moment, all I wanted was to lean into him, to melt into the solid wall of warmth he radiated. The inside of his coat was warm, impossibly warm. I swallowed, tugging it tighter around myself. I slipped my phone into the coat pocket and let the knife clatter to the road, my hand too weak to hold it any longer.
Quietly, we began walking side by side. I could feel his gaze skimming me now and again, down to my socks, then back up.
I broke the silence first, my voice rough with cold as we stepped past another creature. “Are we just going to leave them out here?”
“Yes.”
“But what about the people when they wake up?”
“The one who sent them will take care of the bodies before daybreak.”
That answer prickled my senses.
“Who sent them?” I pressed, lifting my gaze to his profile. His jaw ticked, his eyes cutting to me briefly before falling back to my feet.
“Let me carry you,” he said instead.
I declined, knowing he wanted to avoid the topic. “I can walk.” I shook my head. “Who sent them? Is it connected to the messenger?”
“Nher—”
I stopped walking, my voice cracking with fear and curiosity. “Are they after me? Is this something new? Have there been reports of creatures chasing people?”
“No.” His voice chilled me worse than the rain.
“So why me?”
“You—”
“Why did they break into the house? Why did they try to lure me out at first? To kill me?” My breath hitched. “No, wait. This has never happened to anyone before. If it’s happening now, if it’s happening to me…does that mean it has something to do with you? Are they after you?”
“No, Sanora.”
“Then what?” My voice rose, throat raw. “They’re after me? Why?”
“Will you listen?” His voice thundered above the quieting rain, rough and commanding. He dragged a hand through his drenched hair, teeth gritting as if he was one string away from combusting.
I shook my head, heart hammering, tears stinging my eyes. I could see it in his expression that he knew something. But he was holding back.
“I’m not letting you off this time. I need to know what this is. They almost killed me.”
“Yes,” he ground out, “but they didn’t.”
“They would have if you’d been a second late!”
His fists clenched at his sides, his eyes burning into mine, rage trembling beneath his restraint. I knew I was being ungrateful, knew I was lashing out at the very person who had saved me, but I needed to know what was going on. I couldn’t find shit in books, and he was the only one who knew the truth.
Without a word, I kept walking, bottling down the sudden anger tearing claws through my chest.
I was aware I’d been letting myself get blinded by the fact that it was unusual and absurd that he was living with me. Why he, theSoulless Man,bought every place here just to stay withme.
Yes, maybe because he craved warmth from someone like he said, but why Nimorran? He could seek companionship from everywhere except the land he scarred. He was the sole cause of what happened with The Crater, and staying right next to it was wrong. At least to me. It wastoowrong.
There was more to it. More to it that he wasn’t telling. Maybe none of it wasn’t my business. ButIalmost died. So it was automatically my business.
A chill ran down my spine as I wondered if any of this would have happened if he hadn’t chosen to stay with me.
What was I thinking in the first place? Living with him? Withhim. The Soulless Man. A murderer once. A man capable of killing again.
