“Why, because you know I’m right?” he continued before she could respond. “I’ve been thinking you should stay at my place for a while.”
Barely done choking, Elysia proceeded to inhale a breadcrumb and start hacking all over again. Had he just asked her to stay at his home? Gage smacked her back as if that would help, while she glared and tears streamed out of her eyes.
“Clearly, you need to be monitored,” he muttered.
Wiping her face, she stared at him in disbelief. “You cannot be serious.”
He stood and stretched, his muscles straining with the movement. Like most warriors, he had no qualms or false modesty. Bodies were bodies. They were what you needed themto be in that moment, and that was all there was to it. Instead of beauty, there was a brutalness to Gage’s form. It wouldn’t have mattered if you dressed him up in the prettiest of trappings. There was always going to be something about his body and the way it moved that stirred an unconscious fear in those around him.
“I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t serious.” He shifted his weight back and stared at her.
“You don’t need to lock me in your tower. Is this about the other day? Because I thought we were done with that.” She tensed, unsure if it was worse to have to discuss the aftermath of the tongue, or that he might have picked up on something else.
His hands clasped onto the bench. He sighed then, as if she were being particularly annoying. “As if you wouldn’t climb out the window. Elysia, you’re not well. There’s more going on that you’re not telling me, and I don’t understand why. Have I, of all people, not earned your trust since the day I met you?”
Her heart caught on his words. The similarity between his words and Remy’s. The frustration and hurt they betrayed.
Her own words were a whisper. “It’s my job to keep you safe, too.”
The lines in his face deepened. “Elysia?—”
She drew in a deep breath of morning air and waved her hand, cutting him off. “I’ll come by late tonight. Don’t wait up.” That would buy her time. To consider her words. Her story.
His lips pressed thinly, like he could see right through her. “Fine. Let’s train.”
She recognized the conversation was far from over. Everyone only wanted to help. She knew that. But what they didn’t understand was that with each person she told, the rope that kissed the blade frayed a little more. How many people could she tell before it broke?
Elysia tracked him through city streets and alleys to the edge of Relaclave, where the Lovestone Woods began. She entered the forest behind him and stilled.
Fog and mist swirled around her feet, her eyes. It reminded her of that place of nightmares in her dreams. She half expected the eerie song to fill her ears.Focus, he’s here somewhere. Cool forest air filled her lungs, calming her as she scanned her surroundings.
She shifted her weight, a rush of fear and excitement coursing through her veins. He was in a mood, no doubt. And that meant nothing good for her.
A crack sounded to her left and she spun. She squinted, but there was nothing there.Shit. That meant—she tried to turn back, but he’d already dropped beside her and snapped out a punch that rocked her head back.
She danced away, blinking back the tears that instantly blinded her eyes. “What was that for?” she gritted out, rubbing her jaw.
He said nothing, just waited.
Fine. No words were really needed, anyway. She darted back into his space and struck, knowing he would easily deflect her first blow. But then they were dancing, a wild yet strategic frenzy of limbs bringing them together and then apart over and over again.
Tired with muscles shaking, she slowed for just a moment, and that was all he needed.
She was flat on her back, staring up at misted trees with a dagger to her nose.
With an arrogant smile stretching across his face, he tapped the blade to the tip of her nose just because he could. “You’re out of shape.”
She smacked the blade away from her face and huffed, shoving herself back up. “I’ve been busy. Can’t always be rolling around in the dirt with you.”
Something closer to anger than disappointment touched his eyes, but his words were even. “Then we better use the time we have.”
He lunged, driving harder and faster than before. The man was a whirl that she could barely track. She had already been winded and now all she could do was deflect hit after hit, never once getting close enough to strike back. He was showing her just how far she’d fallen in these last few months. She knew it and hated every breathless second of his punishment.
An angry snarl rose in her throat and she lashed out with her dagger instead of her fist.
But he caught her wrist and backed her easily into a tree. The rough bark and tiny broken branches stabbed into her uncomfortably. She snapped her teeth at him. “Enough, Gage.”
A wide smile spread across his face, showing all of his beautiful teeth right back. “Is it? I don’t think it is, Elysia. I don’t think we’re done until you’re ready to tell me the truth.”
