“Perhaps I am not so powerful,” he agreed. “But I am more than sufficient for you.”
Her eyes narrowed as she considered. Her response seemed off. The other three were clearly angry and antagonistic, but this one—she was… patient. Like a sniper biding her time until she strikes.
Her body shimmered and blurred, blue mist swirling around her. For a moment, it formed the shape of a huge dragon that wriggled up out of the constraints of the floor. The light vanished and once again the giant towered over Law. She eyed him a moment, the corner of her mouth pulling up in a sly smile, then turned and walked away without a word. She didn’t need to say anything. She might as well have declared war.
She was part of whatever was going to happen tonight. She’d just dared Law to stop her.
He watched her go then turned back to the other three, who had quieted and now waited, expressions closed. Mal couldn’t tell if they might know what the other one was up to or not. Or maybe they had their own thing going on. Just because a lot of the big giants wanted to stop the wedding and alliance didn’t mean they were all working together. There could easily be a dozen or two different plots in the making. Who was she kidding? There probably were.
Law freed the other three. “Do enjoy the evening,” he said sardonically as he returned to Mal.
Music began to play again, and conversations hummed through the pavilion.
“There’s going to be trouble,” he said, eyes narrowed as he scanned the room. “That virdana is up to something, and she’s confident I can’t stop her.”
“I got that too,” Mal said.
Something in her voice caught his attention. He looked at her sharply.
Her brows rose. “What?”
“You’ve got that look.”
“What look?”
“Like you’re going to take risks you shouldn’t.”
Mal grappled her irritation before it could escape. Clarity first. Then she could decide if she was going to be mad or not.
“What risks are those, and why shouldn’t I take them?”
Something flickered in his eyes, and his shoulders tensed. She could feel him pulling inward and thinking. Walking on eggshells again.
“Just say it,” she said. “I might be mad. Deal with it.”
“Will you? Deal with it, I mean? Because I’ll probably get mad back and say things you don’t want to hear. You’ve got a shitty history of taking off when things get tough.”
Mal flinched and took a step back. Not that it wasn’t true, as she’d admitted earlier in the day, but she’d been trying really hard not to close up on him or back away. Earlier she’d promised she was in it for the long haul, and to reward her, here he was smacking her in the face with the great big cast-iron frying pan of guilt.
Law grabbed her arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
Mal stared at his chest, trying to make sense of what she was feeling, but everything inside her was spinning wildly and she hurt and wanted to strike out, and it was taking all of her willpower not to do that. She didn’t want to hurt him. Not really. She loved him and you don’t go around deliberately hurting the people you love. That’s the opposite of love.
“No,” she said slowly. “You did meant it because you said it, and you don’t say things you don’t mean.”
He gave her a little shake. “Ididn’tmean it. Or maybe I did. A little. Shit.”
He let go of her to run his hands through his hair then settled his hands gently on her shoulders, waiting until she looked up to meet his eyes.
“Mal, Ican’tlose you. That’s the one concrete thing in my life that everything else depends on. That fact gives everything else gravity and oxygen. I’m still feeling like all of this is too new and fragile and that I’ll fuck it up if I even sneeze wrong. One minute everything seems like it’s going good and I’m feeling high as a fucking kite, and then out of nowhere, I start to think the ice under my feet is cracking and my world is about to collapse again and you’ll be gone. It’s not reasonable. I know it. But I can’t seem to help it. It’s going to take me some time.”
The last was said on a pleading note for her to give him that time, to not give up on him.
“It’s not exactly unreasonable either,” Mal conceded after a long moment. “But it is really frustrating to have you doubt my commitment when I’m trying so hard. IsaidI’m all in.”
He drew back slightly, his brows drawing together.
“Now what?”
