There was a beat of silence before she looked straight at me. “Days of pure bliss, rolling in the sheets with him. The best I’ve ever had.”
“Petty, insolent woman.”
Quentin’s body tensed, eyes tracking the single strand of my aura that trailed across the floor and crept towards her. It snaked up her body and landed on the fabric of her dress that laid between her breasts.
“Ignorant, egotistical God,” she shot back, but some of the fire had gone out and was replaced with wariness.
“You will never wear his colour again.”
“Says who?”
The confession was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it back. This was not how I planned to tell her. I’d already fucked up my declaration of love. I wasn’t about to admit to our binding when she looked ready to murder me.
The single strand of aura that rested on her dress dragged downwards again, splitting the fabric until it pooled around her feet. Beneath the hideous amounts of gold and green, Quen donned black lace.
My colour.
My bound.
“If you touch me, I’ll scream murder,” Quen snapped.
The goosebumps cascaded along her flesh as I drank her in, my aura unbinding itself from me and growing larger in the space. Whenever she was in front of me, I couldn’t help but lose control.
“You belong to me,” I reminded her.
“Is that what the show was? Crashing a party, putting me in a collar—you’re taking me to Hunter yourself?”
“Who said anything about taking you to Hunter? I will let no one else have you.”
I took a few steps towards her, and she held her spot, steady on her feet. The moment the pool gifted her, I’d lost my ability to read her thoughts. Her divinity had locked me out and although the copper around her wrists and neck dampened it, she couldn’t deny what she was.
“Youdon’t get to have me,” she pointed out.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do when it comes to you.”
The tips of my shoes hit the point of her heels. She moved quicker than I expected without my advantage of reading her mind. Quentin raised her hands and swung them hard, hitting me across the side of the face with the cuffs that bound her. The impact was enough to make me hiss and sway on the spot.
When I straightened up, Quen had turned and was making a break for the bedroom door. The heels hampered her speed, and she appeared to forget that she was only in her underwear and some metal.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked, striding after her.
She barely made it out of the room before I grabbed her around the waist, hauling her back inside. Quen fought against me, trying to get free. The feel of her body against mine brought unparalleled comfort after days without her.
“Let me go!” she screamed.
“Where do you plan to go?” I asked, kicking the door shut. “There’s nowhere to run. I am the safest space you have here.”
“Then I may as well walk into Hunter’s place and beg for death!”
I dropped her from my grasp and shoved her back against the wall. I needed to rein in my anger before I did irreparable damage. She couldn’t fight back in the cuffs, but I wasn’t keen to let her out of them just yet. Not when I had one shot of total submission from her.
“Do you really think I’d let anything happen to you?” I asked, pressing my forehead against hers.
The hypnotic notes of honey, orange blossom, and peach ensnared me again. My hands cupped her face, grip tightening to hold her in place when she tried to pull away.
“Do you?” I pressed.
Erik informed me I’d be able to feel her emotions. The rage was evident but there was no fear. Comfort, relief, and need swirled through our bond. She wanted to lean into my touch, collapse against my body, but she wouldn’t allow herself.
