“Is that truly is the only reason you are here?”
Her heart began to throb in her chest. “What do you want me to say, Draven?” she managed breathlessly. “Do you want me to say I am here because I cannot stop thinking about you?—”
His eyes snapped forward to hers. She should have stopped talking, but the words came vomiting from her mouth quicker than she could stop them.
“—That I am here because having to ignore you in the hallways and act as though you are still my enemy King was tearing a hole through my being? That as fearful as I was about there being another boat on our shores, the thought of getting to see you again in a realm where I could freely be myself filled my core with a joy that I hardly understand?”
His brows raised, and she hated herself for admitting everything she’d just said.
“Because I won’t,” she added quickly. Her chest was heaving at this point, and she shook her head. “I won’t say it. I will not allow you to look upon me with thatstupidglint of satisfaction that—”
The rising smirk on his face made her fists curl, her teeth set. She wanted to slap the look off his face as much as she wanted him to fuck her into oblivion.
She pointed a finger at him and stepped back. “—that!That look there.”
He bit his lips together, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I don’t know what you mean,” he said in a sultry growl that made her knees limp.
She pointed a finger at him again. “No. Draven. I came here to help you with the ships. Nothing more.”
He paused before her, and his eyes squinted down at her. “So leave,” he shrugged. “Leave if that’s all you came here for. Your horse is ready. Your bags are packed. Go back to Magnice.”
A huff of an exhale left her.
“Maybe I will,” she managed.
He stared at her a moment, and she stood her ground in front of him, fighting the pull towards him that her core begged for.
“So go,” he said with a nod towards the stairs.
“I will,” she managed.
His arms crossed over his chest. “You’re still here.”
“Oh,I’mgoing,” she warned.
“Okay,” he said nonchalantly with another shrug.
She pushed past him then, knocking into his shoulder. “Goodbye, Draven.”
“Have a safe trip back,” he called after her.
She paused at the steps and looked back at him. He wasn’t watching her any longer. Instead he’d turned to face the moons. She stared at him, expecting him to turn and tell her not to leave.
But he never did.
“That’s it?” she called out.
He turned and leaned his hips against the banister, arms crossing over his chest, but he didn’t speak.
She balked at his quiet figure. “Have a safe trip back?” she repeated. “That’s all you have to say to me?”
He shrugged again. “You said you didn’t come here for anything else except the ships. I shouldn’t like to make assumptions about the Sun Queen’s intentions for traveling.”
“Assumptions…” she almost laughed at the word. “This is a game to you, isn’t it?”
“No games,” he replied.
She felt herself stepping towards him, annoyed to her bones with his frustrating antics. “You think you’re so irresistible. So powerful. You, with your perfect hair, your strong arms, yourstupidlyhandsome face—”
