“In a sense, I am,” he replied, and this time there was the faintest hint of dry humor threading through his voice.
I thought he would say more about it, but he remained silent as we resumed walking.
I also became acutely aware of the way my heels sounded against the stone, the echo carried upward into the open space above. His stride remained unhurried and, as usual, one of confidence. In fact, I had to shorten mine slightly to match it, which only made me more conscious of the proximity between us, with my hand still held firmly in his.
“What exactly do you think you know about me?” he asked suddenly, and the question tightened something low in my stomach. To the point that I hesitated, studying the angle of his jaw, the sharp cut of it beneath the light, wondering how much truth I could afford.
“I know enough,” I said, though my voice lacked some of its earlier boldness.
“Do you now?” he asked, his tone somewhere between intrigued and amused.
“You’re an Enforcer,” I said, the words leaving my mouth before I could reconsider them. He raised a brow at that, a flicker of surprise crossing his expression before it settled again.
“What else?” he prompted, as though genuinely interested in what I might dare to say next. So, I took a steadying breath and decided to tell him more, unable to help myself at this point.
“You answer to the King of Kings. You judge the damned. You manage what happens within your domain.”
The silence that followed was not explosive, but it was charged. I watched his expression carefully, and for the first time since meeting him, I saw something genuine flicker there.
Total astonishment.
“That is considerably more than I expected,” he said slowly, and I felt myself tense at once, the regret surfacing almost as quickly as the words had left my mouth.
I swallowed the nervous pounding in my chest and answered it with defiance, holding his gaze far longer than was comfortable.
“You didn’t expect me to ask questions?” I challenged.
“I did not expect you to have answers,” he replied sternly, and his gaze searched my face with a new intensity that I had to force myself not to back down from.
“For a mortal to know so much does not usually happen without consequence,” he continued, lowering his voice slightly, and his words slid over my skin like a warning I couldn’t quite decipher. I swallowed hard, the motion suddenly noticeable in my throat… something he didn’t miss.
“What does that mean?” I asked, my fingers on my free hand curling instinctively into the material of my skirt. And for a heartbeat, I thought he might answer fully. His jaw shifted slightly, as though he were considering it. But then whatever decision he reached settled behind his eyes.
“It means that you ask dangerous questions to potentially the wrong person,” he said instead, leading me off the main entrance hall into a corridor of stone walls and flaming wrought iron lanterns that hung from the tall arched ceiling.
“That’s not an answer,” I murmured, frustration mingling with curiosity.
“No,” he agreed quietly, before his tone came out hard and unyielding,
“It is not.”
“What does that mean?” I asked as I tried to pull my hand from his, not liking where this conversation was headed. Especially when his expression did not soften this time.
“It means that you have been speaking to someone you should not have,”he warned quietly, as there was no question in it.
He already knew.
I held his gaze, refusing to let the flicker of panic surface.
“In that case, it would be foolish of me to confirm, wouldn’t it?”
Something shifted in him then. Something dangerous and not necessarily visible to anyone who didn’t know to look for it. But I saw it. The subtle tightening along his jaw. The faint flare of silver in his eyes.
“You think I do not know?” he asked softly, and the calm in his tone unsettled me far more than anger would have.
“I think that if I tell you who, then they may suffer for it,” I replied carefully, and that did it!
Before I knew what was happening, he suddenly stepped forward with clear and deliberate intent that forced me back until the cool stone met my shoulders. I gasped, the contact startling me more than I expected, and for a split second, I thought my head would strike the wall behind me as I was forced backwards.
