The corner of my mouth twitches because denial looks so good on her.
“Yes, I remember your offer of friendship.”
She gives a half-shrug, trying to hide the pounding of her heart that my darkness can feel. “That’s all I’m asking. I mean, you’re the one who said—”
“It isn’t enough.” I take the words straight from her lips, leaving her mouth open, breath caught, stunned. “And it isn’t.”
I lean closer, refusing to be a coward—not with her. For her, I have to be better, more. If she’s willing to risk her light on my forsaken soul, I can’t waste it.
She frowns, scowls, eyes flaring brightly. “You’ve spent all this time pushing me away, saying you don’t deserve anything, but you keep saying friendship isn’t enough?”
“Because we said no more lies, and I am telling the truth.”
Her eyes narrow into slits of fire. “You are the most infuriating, confusing, contradictory being I have ever met!” A short, humourless laugh escapes as she shakes her head. “Let me speak plainly. I want us, the four of us, to be friends. But you, you want more, yes?”
I pull my lips in tight, fighting the smile threatening my mouth. But it’s difficult when she blazes like this, fire in her eyes, tongue sharp, fearless.
“Yes,” I say.
“Urgh, what does that even mean, Kane?!” My name on her tongue cracks the restraint, the smile breaking loose as she barrels on. “All I want, right now, is for you to be clear—crystal clear, with all those words you’ve had hundreds of years to learn in all sorts of languages. Be nice and clear, for me. Got it?”
I could say it in another language, watch her fury climb higher. But not today. Today I’m reckless enough to take what she’s offered—permission to try.
“That’s what you want from me?” I step closer until her knees press into my stomach. I linger there, easing into her light, indulging in her heat, my hands clenched on the table to stop reaching for her.
“You want me to be clear?” I repeat, her eyes wide open as they peer up at me, the fire in them faltering to shock.
Have we ever been this close? Even when we shared a bed, even in Ezekial’s office, I don’t remember seeing the tinyfragments of red in her eyes or the fawn freckles across her cheeks.
“Jasmine,” I murmur, voice still twisted with the dark and barely above a whisper. “You’re the only thing I’ve ever wanted this badly. More than revenge. And that’s what terrifies me.”
Her brows shoot up.
I’ve never been good with emotions, never been good at naming them, owning them. But with her, they rise to the surface, relentless, demanding to be felt, to be spoken.
“The power you have over me, how weak you make me feel, just the thought of touching you…” My hands curl into fists. “Being this close to you now…” My eyes lock with hers, the world blurring at the edges leaving only us. “The only reason I’m holding back, why I’m being such acoward, is because I’m terrified of what would happen if I give in.”
Her mouth drops open, then closes again, while my fists tremble on the table.
“Why?” she whispers.
I’ll be clear. Just like she asked.
“I’m impatient.”
Touch her. Bind her. Take her.
“Possessive.”
Show her. Claim her.
“Controlling.”
Now. Take her. Now.
“I won’t settlefor friendship.”
I shut my eyes, fighting the voice, the relentless darkness urging me to obey. She must feel it, because more of her warmth curls around me, steadying the chaos, just enough for me to open them again—
