Chapter 12
Quinn
ItrailedbehindEzra,who didn’t say a single word to me.The Twilight Zonetheme played in my head as the dragon zoomed in circles around us, definitely not helping my sanity. Rowan told me XanRa worked tirelessly to save me. Ezra hadn’t left my side while I was unconscious. His voice pulled me out of Alex’s delusion, and our kiss when I woke burned into memory.
I’d been awake for two days, and if I hadn’t tagged along with Cayden just now, I still wouldn’t have seen Xan. They were avoiding me, and it stung.
Yes, I’d pushed Ezra away, but he had to know it wasn’t about him.
And sure, I’d turned Professor Holiday into a dragon with jeweled rainbow spikes that literally farted sparkles. But no one seemed upset about that, so I doubted it was the reason he was giving me the cold shoulder.
Ezra opened his door and motioned me through. I buried my shaking hands in my hoodie. It was hard not to notice how he only seemed to like me when Xan did, and the Architect couldn’t give a flying fuck at the moment. So much for the ‘between us’ line from the mixer. The collar burned on my throat.
I brushed past Ezra. He snagged the dragon and hurled it into the bathroom before it could start sniffing around the room. Squeaks, roars, and the crash of breaking things echoed until the shower hissed on. After one final roar, a suspicious silence descended. Ezra and I exchanged raised brows.
The quiet afterward felt heavier than the noise. I should’ve joked, should’ve said anything. Instead, Ezra slid to the door like he expected an attack, and I stayed mute, suffocating in everything unspoken between us.
Words were never our strong suit.
I focused on the room. It felt like I hadn’t been here for years. My three days of pretend marital bliss stabbed me in the gut. I could almost see the three of us moving around the space before everything got so complicated. My gaze landed on the neatly made bed, and a zing of lust shot through me.
I peeked at Ezra, and though he watched me from his position in the door, his face hadn’t changed expressions. Of the four men in my life, he was the only one who hadn’t tethered me. He couldn’t feel my emotions.
“How did you talk in my head if we didn’t have a tether?” I asked.
“Can Xan talk in your head?” Ezra asked, not at all thrown off by my seemingly out-of-the-blue question.
I wrinkled my nose. “I mean, probably he’s a mentalist. But, no. He doesn’t.” The extra reminder that Xan and Ezra’s connection was special, and I wasn’t a part of it stabbed me hard.
“I heard you in Alex’s loop.” I gritted my teeth and refused to be hurt. “That’s all I was trying to say.”
Ezra rested his hand on his sword hilt, as if talking to me was a battle.
I sighed, anger draining. I was just tired, tired of all of it.
“Let’s just get these maps.” I turned my back on Ezra and really looked around the room.
“Magic is energy,” Ezra explained, not helping me look at all. “As is the magic of the mind, though not in the same tangible way. I was in your shadow when you broke the collar. We can assume our connection was a byproduct of proximity.”
Hurt stabbed into me. I’d clung to his voice, and it was just a byproduct of proximity.
Suddenly, I hated this room—the happiness I’d felt, the longing I still had for men who turned cold in an instant.
The pile of rolled-up maps sat on the far side of the bed. I gathered them into my arms, busy work or not, and turned toward the door. Ezra still stood there, watching me with his plum-purple gaze.
I was suddenly so tired of this entire situation. “What do you want from me?” The question came out of me before I could think about it.
Ezra’s chest rose and fell. “I want you to be ours.”
My jaw dropped before I snapped it shut. “Actually, I believe that.” White-hot fury coursed through me, and I forced my voice to stay even, though venom cut into every low word. “You want a toy that you can put on a shelf and play with at your convenience. Xan was asleep, so I wasn’t worth a single conversation.” Tears blurred the shitty room. “I thought all of you were just figments of my imagination. I mourned you. Butyou wouldn’t know that. Since our kiss, you’ve not said two words to me.” I hugged the maps to my chest as if they were a shield. “I don’t know what I did to piss you off, but it doesn’t matter. I deserve better than being kicked around like this.”
Ezra rushed forward and enveloped me in his arms. The maps exploded, unraveling as they dropped to the ground. He pulled me close. Before I could react, he had my head tilted up and crushed his lips to mine. Pure lust raced across me. He dropped his hands to my ass and lifted me, only to deposit me on the edge of the bed and fell to his knees. Fire and need, new and old, pebbled my flesh and turned my core into molten need.
He rested his hands on my knees. “We’re not kicking you around.”
His touch was careful. Too careful. My fire guttered out.
“Right.” I bit my lip. My voice dropped instead of rising—flat, almost bored. “Kick me around, then gaslight me. Nice, Ezra.”
