And then—without thinking, without meaning to—I blurt out, “I didn’t sleep with Kieran.”
My face goes hot. Instant, searing red.
What the fuck?!
“I mean—I’m not with him. We’re just friends.” The words tumble out, rushed and unfiltered. I bite my lip, mortified.
“By all the elemental gods,” I mutter under my breath. I could die. Right here. Just vanish into the saddle.
Thane turns to look at me then. One eyebrow arches, slow and deliberate. His expression is hard to read—surprised, maybe. Or amused.
Then, in that maddeningly calm voice:
“I didn’t ask.”
I stare at him, heat prickling at my cheeks.
That bastard!
Acting like there isn’t something here. Like I imagined it. Like I didn’t see the way he looked at me when Kieran kissed my cheek—that flash of heat in his eyes, sharp and possessive before he masked it behind that Warlord calm.
I’m about to open my mouth—to tell him to fuck off, to saysomething—but then he speaks again.
“But I’m glad you didn’t.” Low and measured. Like it cost him nothing.
Like it cost himeverything.
Ihearit in the quiet. In the way he doesn’t look at me when he says it. And now it’s my turn to be silent.
It’s always this with him. Push, then pull. Fire, then frost.
Gods, it’s infuriating.One second he’s ice—distant, unreadable, like none of it matters. The next, he’s heat—saying things likethatwith a voice that slides under my skin and stays there.
But I’m glad you didn’t.
Like it didn’t just detonate something in me.
What the hell am I supposed to do with that?
I clench my teeth, fingers tightening around the reins.
I want to shove him. I want to kiss him. I want to scream. But mostly, I want him tochoose a godsdamned side.
Again, I’m about to say all of it. Every jagged thought, every furious word—because I’ve had enough of this push and pull, of him acting like he doesn’t feel it too.
But he speaks. Calm. Direct. Like he didn’t just strike a match and walk away from the blaze.
“How did Calryx call you?”
I blink. The question hits me like a splash of ice-cold water.
Seriously? That’s what he wants to talk about?
Not the kiss. Not Kieran. Not the fact that I basically justannouncedI didn’t sleep with someone he claims not to care about?
I snap my head toward him, eyes narrowing. But he’s still staring ahead like we’re just having a normal conversation. Likethisis casual.
I’m so thrown by the shift in momentum that I actually answer him.
