Even if it was by him.
Tarn’s hands traveled around her waist, sliding up her spine. She shivered as his other hand took her throat, holding her in place as he took control. The beat of her heart raced with every intimate stroke, stirring heat in her stomach.
Dyna might have liked this form of wild kissing. If her lips did not burn. If guilt did not chastise her. If tears did not gather behind her eyes. The shriveled bond shook violently as if to recoil. Her entire body rejected the man who wasn’t her mate. But her matelefther. He rejected their bond and tossed her away.
They were nothing anymore.
So Dyna endured it.
If she was to gain Tarn’s trust, she couldn’t back out now. Dyna wrapped her arms around Tarn’s neck and made herself kiss him back. Let it burn. Let it hurt. Let it peel back every layer of her skin. Maybe then it would sear Cassiel out of her memory for good.
Tarn’s fingers threaded through Dyna’s hair at the base of her neck, and he tugged her head back. She choked back a gasp at the sting as his mouth moved over her racing pulse.
“Wait,” Dyna panted. This was too much. Every kiss he planted on her skin made her feel like she was sinking to a place she may never surface from. “Tarn, stop.”
But he kept kissing her. She put herself here, so she had to get herself out.
Dyna yanked on his hair, and that only seemed to encourage him. Incorrigible man. She was about to knee Tarn in the groin when his icy tongue swept against hers. He froze, and his hands halted on her back. He pulled back a few inches, staring at her incredulously. The cabin was quiet, only holding the sound of their soft panting and the crash of waves.
Dyna blinked at him in confusion, coming out of her daze. Clarity struck when he smelled her breath. A flush rushed through her face. She slid back to her feet, but he grabbed her before she could get away and riffled through her clothing. His hand came away, holding the pewter bottle. He flicked it open, and the scent of bitter herbs wafted between them.
Tarn’s quiet, mocking laugh made her stomach turn. “Oh, we’re not so different after all, are we?” Humiliation and anger churned inside of her, and she flushed. Dyna tried to move past him, but he grabbed her arm. An arrogant glint shone in his eyes. “Call me curious, but I must know what changed.”
Dyna shoved against his chest, but she may as well try to move the ship. Panic rushed through her. “Let go!”
Tarn released his grip at her next push, and the force sent her sprawling backwards onto his bed. Fury crackled through her like hot oil on water, and the mood rune blazed red.
She gripped her dagger’s hilt. “Hold me down again, and I will bury this in your throat!”
Tarn smirked as he wiped his wet lips. He leaned against the end of the bed, not looking inclined to continue what they started. “I like it.”
She clenched her jaw. “Like what?”
“You—showing some teeth.”
Dyna glanced past him to the mirror on the wall. Through that reflected surface, she had communicated with him for the past three months. She saw herself now, couched on the bed like an animal ready to spring.
“Fangs … and claws…” she retorted to herself. “Odd, how not too long ago I despised myself for lacking them. And now … I hate that it’s all I have left…”
Dyna sat back and folded up her knees, wrapping her arms around them. Her eyes bitterly stung as her vision blurred. “I … lost my magic. It was taken from me.”
The temperature dropped in the cabin suddenly. “By whom?”
The seething behind the question made her meet Tarn’s gaze. His eyes were orbs of ice, but he was listening, truly listening, as he watched her with a focused attention that made her want to tell him everything.
Dyna opened her mouth to answer, but she couldn’t sayhisname. Her tongue refused to form the letters.
She closed her wet eyes. “The one I was bonded to. He left me ... because he believed me too weak.” Her voice wavered at the word. “He was right. Iwasweak. I was completely helpless as my magic was stolen from me. Now all I am left with is a pit of hatred and nightmares I cannot escape.” She gritted her teeth as she glared up at Tarn. “So yes, I suppose you and I are the same. Is that what you wanted to hear? That I am a hypocrite for taking Witch’s Brew? That you were right about the world? Does it please you to know I am now as deranged and violent as you are?”
“Yes.” Tarn’s low reply settled in the vacancy of her chest.
The bitter tears she’d been holding back rolled down her cheeks.
Taking her chin, Tarn was surprisingly gentle as he lifted her face. “The most painful betrayal is from the people we trust the most. Yet that pain is a lesson we never forget. For it hardens us and teaches us that the only one you can ever trust is yourself.”
As much as Dyna wanted to deny it, a part of her couldn’t help but agree.
“That faltering you once had, the naïve notion that everyone is good—it’s gone now. You are ready to spill blood and fight for what you want, for at last, you understand there is no other choice. The girl you once were is dead, and you have risen from her corpse to become the woman you are now.” Tarn wiped away the last of Dyna’s tears with a faint swipeof his thumb, leaving a trail of frost behind. “And as I once predicted...” he murmured. “She isglorious.”
