She yanked out the Sunstone dagger and sprang at him with a cry.
Rune caught her wrist in his iron grip, chuckling softly. “Ah, if you wish to kill me, songbird, don’t shout it in your thoughts.”
His shadows wrenched the orange blade away and it struck the wall across from them with a twang.
“Then kill me!” Alora hissed. “I would rather die than be with you.”
Rune stilled for a breath, shadows curling like snakes beneath his feet. His sharp sigh fell over her scalp, making her shiver. Then the moonlight streamed into the cottage, and she saw what she had missed before.
The burns.
His clothing was scorched, still smoking at the edges. Ash clung to his hair, his skin blistered and raw. They were healing, but not fast enough. It took her a heartbeat to understand. He’d left the mountain when she’d fled.
“You… stepped into the sun…?” Alora whispered.
Rune reached out, gently this time, fingertips brushing her cheek. Smearing soot across her skin. “You speak of death so frivolously… yet I would burn beneath a thousand suns for you.”
Her heart twisted at the tenderness of his words.
She hated him.
She hated that a part of her had become fond of him. How? When?
For all his cruelty, he had never turned away from her pain. The thought splintered her chest, sharp and unwelcome. Whatever kindness he’d shown was born of possession. What did he know about love?
His hand moved beneath her jaw, thumb tracing her pulse like he was trying toclaim it.
“You’re trembling,” he murmurs, eyes glowing. “Do you fear me?”
“I’m not afraid.”
It was barely a whisper. Her heart was racing wildly with something she didn’t dare name.
Rune’s smile was slow. Cruel. He leaned in closer, lips ghosting over hers but never quite touching.
“You should be.”
The shadows curl around her wrist like silk ribbons.
A warning dressed as a promise.
She arched into him, defiance and desire shooting through her like lightning, devastation in a single breath. Despite everything, a part of her wanted him too.
Silver moonlight streamed through the window, highlighting her sin. The air between them teemed with magic and something ancient.
Rune loomed before her, eyes glowing like molten garnet, chest rising and falling as if holding back a storm. His voice was low, dangerous, trembling with restraint. “You ran from me.” His claws caressed the racing pulse at her throat. “I have endured much, but that was a torture I cannot forgive without reprisal.”
They stared at one another, her heart fluttering wildly, her chest tight as her skin flared with white light in her defense.
Yet Rune stepped forwardintothe threat, into her. The shadows at his back stirred, coiling like beasts. Her mindfractured with another image. This time of him standing in shadow and a crimson glow.
Alora froze, breathless.
“Never run from me again,” Rune breathed against her mouth.
But she had to.Because if she didn’t, there may be no going back.
His lips brushed her jaw, soft and slow, as if tasting the shape of her breath. The words had barely fallen from his mouth before the shadows responded. Hungry tendrils curled around her waist, sliding up her back like a lover’s hands.
