"Hello— oh. Rorin." She looks up at me, her fingers wound around strands of golden hair.
"We need to talk."
"I— oh… kay." She sputters as I push past her, making a beeline for her table of drinks."What do you need to talk about?"
My head shakes back and forth, pouring myself two fingers of the clear liquor. "No, not just me," I say, pointing my finger between the two of us. "We.We need to talk."
"Alright." She snaps for me to pass her a glass, and I pour out the same amount, handing it back to her. “One.. two… three.” Millie whispers before she tosses the fiery liquid back. "What do we — gods that's awful — need to talk about?"
I give her a sidelong glance, "you, Eveera…Pruella.The stunt the two of you pulled bringing her to dinner."
Her stare shifts down, and she sucks in a tight breath, backing up to the edge of her bed. "Eveera asked for my help, and I wasn't going to tell her no. Besides, I babysat Pruella the entire time she was with us in Suram — it's not like I couldn't handle her."
Fair.I note, but still, there should have been no reason to handle her. "Earlier today, I had to stop her from torturing the girl. Now she's having you truss her up like a doll and parade her around court."
"She went back to her cell," Millie interrupts.
"Regardless." I sigh, choking down another shot. She eyes the closed door across from her again, and I notice her fidgeting with her hands. "Millie?" She snaps her focus back over to me, giving me a strained and practiced smile.
CREEAAKK!
Both of our heads whip around to find Max standing in the bathroom doorway with his hair wet and a towel slung low around his hips. From the corner of my eye, I see Millie’s cheeksburn bright red. "We were just talking about Eveera…" She says sheepishly, looking anywhere but at me.
"Ah." He nods, leaning against the frame. "I wouldn't worry about Evie too much. She's always a bit theatrical, and if she's parading around the princess, it's to prove a point.”
“I–”
“Youbrought a stranger into her home and expected her to be fine with it. But right now? Evie’s thinking that you found her too stupid to realize what you’d done. What did you think was going to happen?"
After my conversation with Millie and partially with Max, I found myself in the throne room, waiting for her to come back. The expansive room still smells heavily of charred flesh, but at least there’s no more bones adorning the floors.
I stretch out my legs, slumping further down into the cold obsidian throne, rubbing my temples back and forth.
"Your boldness grows more every day."
Her voice jars me from my thoughts, and I look down. She walks around the base of the dais, a hand ghosting along the edges of the rock. Eveera peers up at me through her dark, thick lashes, her golden orbs glowing. Slowly, she slinks up the steps until she stands in front of me, her head cocking to the right as her gaze now peers down.
I refrain from reaching out and tracing the edge of her jaw and settle for dragging my eyes up and down her lithe frame. "Well, your avoidance grows more noticeable. I take issue with that." Her hair has fallen loose from the wind, and the black kohl she lines her eyes with is smudged underneath her eyes. When my focus finds its way back to her face, those ruby red lips are pulled into a smirk, and both toned arms are folded across herchest. I push up from my seated position, her breath hitching – the sound as intoxicating as always – while I close the distance between us.
"I take…" She sucks in another breath, and I reach to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes tracking the movement the entire time. "Issue with youinfectingeverything in my life." She spits the words out, but they don't land as harshly as she'd like them to.
I suppress the laugh that builds in my chest because it was only so long ago that I thought the same. My restraint snaps, and my finger ghosts down her cheek, hooking underneath her chin. I dip my face down until our cheeks brush against each other. Eveera goes still when my lips graze the outer shell of her ear, "you haveinfectedevery part of me formonths, Nightmare."
Her hand comes up and lightly grips around my wrist, aiming to remove my hold. Not in the mood for her rejection yet again, I grab hold of her shoulders and switch our places. With her back now to her throne, I take a step down, putting myself below her gaze again.
I walk backwards down the steps, her face stunned as she watches me walk away. "Stop avoiding me, Eveera.” I call out, “this punishment has lasted long enough."
A cruel and disbelieving laugh echoes throughout the room as I take myself out into the hallway, making my way slowly back to my quarters.
Once inside, I slide down the downs, my head falling into my hands. Every time I am around her – in her space – it takes an egregious amount of effort to not shake her and make her see that I’m not the enemy she needs to be fighting.
BUM! BUM! BUM!
"Rorin!"
BUM! BUM! BUM!
I groan, rolling over onto my side, the sound of thumping disrupting my already tumultuous sleep. "Why…"
