The hot pan tilted off the fire, sending heated grain rolling onto the sand. I reached out, without thinking, to right the pan and save the food.
"Gods!" I screamed, shaking out my newly burned hand.
Several people turned to look as I hissed and stared down at the angry red welt blossoming on my palm. With a howl of rage, I kicked the pan, sending grain flying. A few of the other women cooking near me gasped and shuffled out of the way as the pan went clanging to the sand. Seething, tears stinging my eyes, I just stared down at the spilled grain, shame and rage warring for control of my heart.
It's just grain,I told myself.It's just some fucking grain.
But it wasn’t just the grain.
I heard boots stomping through the sand and glanced up just in time to meet Gryfon's eyes. Frigid ice met my gaze. His scowl deepened as he reached me. Muttering a command for me to come with him, he reached out and grabbed my arm. Pulling me out of the cooking tent, he dragged me away from the wide-eyed women now whispering behind their hands.
More people turned to stare as we passed but Gryfon's fury cleared the way. Even his own warriors gave concerned glances but moved aside to let us through.
At the edge of camp, I wrenched out of his grip.
"Let go of me," I snapped. "Where do you think you're taking me?"
"Come," he spat.
Offering no further explanation, he set off through the endless sands toward the massive orange rock formation just ahead. I considered planting my feet right there and refusing to move, but that felt like a tantrum more befitting a child. I was above that, at least. So I hurried after him, huffing in annoyance as loud as I could to make my irritation clear as we tromped across the desert with no stated objective.
I didn't see the cave entrance until we were upon it. Gryfon stormed into the dimly lit cavern without a second thought, leaving me no choice but to follow. After only a moment's hesitation, I did.
"Would you like to tell me why you've dragged me all the way—"
"Scream," he said, whirling to face me so fast I nearly collided with his chest.
I blinked up at him in the limited daylight streaming in from outside the cave, uncertain if I'd heard him correctly. His eyes shifted back and forth, watching me. A solid wall of muscle and well over six feet of brooding, arrogant, angry man stood before me, waiting.
"What?" I asked, stunned by the odd request.
"Scream as loud as you want for as long as you want," he repeated, his tone dropping back to that low, velvety purr I'd heard in my dreams and not yet confronted him about. "Out there, they can see you're pissed. They can see you're unstable and unhinged and fucking losing it. In here, no one will hear you. No one will know how you really feel."
My jaw tensed, my body jolting in preparation for a fight I wasn't sure was coming.
"You will," I whispered, my breathy tone betraying me.
"I already do."
His eyes flashed in the dying light of day, icy blue and piercing my very soul. His chiseled jaw tensed and his silver hair fell overhis shoulder as he watched me and I wondered, briefly, if maybe he could understand. It was ludicrous, of course. No one could possibly understand what I'd been through, the pressure on me then, the pressure on me now. Least of all this brooding warrior who'd hardly had a kind word to say to me since I'd arrived. But there was a pain in his gaze and a memory that drew me inexplicably toward him of a quiet voice in the deepest dark, calling me back to the light.
I stepped forward until our chests were touching, until I could feel his breath on my neck when he looked down at me, until my fingers brushed against his and made them twitch. I lifted my amber gaze to his icy blue and blinked, lips parting in anticipation.
"Are you going to tell me how you spoke to me in my mind?" I asked, my voice a low whisper against his lips as I cocked my head back to look up at him.
A moment of surprise registered in the depths of his eyes before he blinked it away and took a step back. He turned and strode away from me, walking only a few feet before leaning back against the cave wall. He crossed his arms, narrowed his gaze at me, and waited.
"What?" I asked, annoyance growing once again. "You aren't going to tell me?"
Silence.
"What a surprise," I scoffed sarcastically, a bitter laugh escaping me. "Yet another question you won't answer."
Still, that same, sickening silence. He just watched me, perfectly still, expression utterly devoid of emotion.
"I mean, why would you tell me anything, right?" I was shouting now. I couldn't help myself. It was all spilling out. Like the damn grain. This was all because of the stupid grain. "I'm just a fucking weapon to you, aren't I? That's all I really am. Just a vessel who can call the dark. Just another girl to usein your war against ancient, immortal beings you don't really understand. So why not drag me along with you through this godsforsaken desert? Since I'm only a tool, it doesn't matter. You find me in the sand, buried in stone, and your first instinct is to take me home. Because I'm not a person. Because I don't matter unless I matter to you. So you drag me back toward Archi, wherever that is, feeling good about yourself, feeling good about your war. But you don't ask me, do you?"
I stomped my foot on the cavern floor. I didn't care how petulant it made me seem, didn't care that I was becoming the child I'd set out to prove I wasn't.
