“Felt like something was ripping my insides apart.Wrapping around my bones.” He smiled wryly. “I spent three days in a cell losing my mind.”
My hands shook. I pressed them flat on the table.
“Eventually, I stopped fighting,” he said quietly.
My mouth dropped open. “That’storture. They bound something inside you against your will!”
He shrugged. “It’s done.”
“Does it control you?”
“No, it’s not like that. We’re merged. What I want, it wants. It just makes me better at certain things.”
“Like?”
His smile darkened. “In battle, I’m more vicious. I don’t tire, slow down, or stop until everything’s dead. In the bedroom, it’s the same. More stamina, intensity, more…pleasure.”
I couldn’t look away.
His gaze caressed my naked skin. “It amplifies what’s already there.”
My face flushed.
“But I’m still in control,” he added.
A spirit bound by a rune. Feeding on rage and lust. It seemed like a tale meant to frighten children.
I leaned in, examining the rune. My fingers hovered near his chest, then they slid over the first jagged line. Such a strange sensation. It didn’t snap at me like most runes; instead, the threads glided in my hand like breathing ropes. I felt them wrapped around every nerve, blood vessel, and bone.
I pushed harder, seizing a thread.
Kairos’s hand closed over mine. “Don’t.”
“You don’t want me to break it?”
He shook his head. “It’s a part of me.”
“Are you sure?”
His thumb grazed my knuckles. “Whatever this thing is, it makes me strong. I don’t want to lose it.”
“How does it not bother you?”
“If I spent every day whining about what’s been done to me, I’d have nothing left for what’s in front of me.”
He lifted my hand from his chest and kissed it.
My heart fluttered. This felt too good, like Vaeris all over again…something that would eventually hurt me.
I leaned in closer, my eyes hot. “You didn’t deserve what they did to you.”
“If you’re that worried about me, come sit on my lap.”
I buried a smile. “I’m trying to be serious.”
“So am I.”
I pulled back, my heart pounding. “You already got me in your bed.”
