“Why me?”
I can’t answer that. I stare at him helplessly. “Because it was the one thing I could control in the moment. And because when you kiss me, I do stupid things.”
He smiles a little, then it fades. “When you kiss me, I can’t think either.”
We stare at each other. It feels like a stalemate. We’re no longer enemies, I think, but we still haven’t entirely decided what we are.
“You haven’t asked about Aylin,” he says softly.
And there it is.
Her name brings me undone. I sink into an armchair before the fireplace.
I can barely dare…
“You said she was alive. That she was… safe.”
“She is. This isn’t my first hunt. I’ve claimed seven brides in total, taking them back to my family. Three of them made a match with my brothers. The others wished to return to their worlds, and so I barter with Kasaros to make it happen.”
“You… claim them for your brothers?”
He nods.
I can’t breathe. My ribs are a cage around my heart, squeezing tight. “Aylin?”
“Aye. I took your sister.”
I can’t bear to sit anymore. I push away from the armchair, wrapping my arms tight around myself, desperate not to hear more. Knowing I need to.
The others wished to return to their worlds…
But Aylin hadn’t.
Even with the chance to return, she’d stayed away.
“When she returned to Kerawan, she took a liking to my brother, Rowan,” Bael murmurs. “They are mated now. Knotted so tight, one cannot see where one’s soul ends and another’s begins.”
Gods, it hurt.
I was sixteen, I want to scream.And you left me there alone.
And she what? Found a lover? Forsook me for a male?
I would never have done the same.
I wouldn’t have stopped until I could return to her, to ensure she was safe…
“Zyla.” He pushes off the bed, hauling on his trousers before he comes for me. Warm arms capture me, drawing me back against his chest, and for once, I don’t fight it. His body heat is a furnace, and I turn my face into his chest as he strokes my hair. “Are you alright?”
“Of course, I am,” I whisper.
“You’re upset.” His voice roughens. “I thought you’d be happy to discover your sister is alive and well.”
“I am.”Gods, I am.
I’d have given everything for her to be alive and well, and now it seems I got my wish, but it hurts. It hurts sofuckingbadly…
A frown pulls at the harsh contours of his dark brows. “How old were you when Aylin was taken for the hunt?”
