Something warm flickered inside me at the quiet praise, at the simple acknowledgment that I had done something well.
“That being said, the knowledge you now possess is…inconvenient,”he said in such a way that had me tensing, despite the calm tone he used.
So naturally, my stomach dropped before I braved to ask,
“Inconvenient how, exactly? And please don’t say the kind where I end up swimming with the fishes.”
His smile, this time, didn’t quite reach his eyes, and I didn’t take that as a good sign.
“As I have previously stated, I have no intention to hurt you, but what happens next does depend on you, little Inanna,” he said, and for the first time today, he used the nickname he had given me. But knowing now what it meant, I felt it differently, deeper, and far more dangerous.
“Depends on me,”I echoed faintly after I shivered.
“On how many questions you choose to answer,” he offered, making me swallow hard.
“We’re not going to your office, are we?” I asked as I noticed us heading out of the city where most of the office buildings were.
“No, we are not,” he said calmly as the city slid past the window, unfamiliar streets opening up ahead. Which was when I realized with a sinking certainty that wherever we were going, it wasn’t somewhere I could simply walk away from.
But I could at least try to remember the way, just in case. Of course, this was easier said than done as I watched the buildings slide past the window. Silent minutes of trying to map the route in my head were wasted because I failed almost immediately. The streets blurred together, unfamiliar turns stacking one on top of the other, until it became clear that even if I asked to be let out right now, I wouldn’t know which direction to run.
Not that I thought he’d stop.
“So, if we’re not going to your office, then where exactly are we going?” I asked carefully, breaking the silence before it could press in too hard and crush me.
“Somewhere private,” Oblivion replied firmly, and I tried not to freak out.
Tried and failed as I admitted on a bitter scoff,
“Wow, that’s not ominous at all.”
But then the corner of his mouth lifted, just barely, before he teased,
“You have a talent for stating the obvious.”
I shot him a look, then immediately regretted it when his gaze met mine, steady and assessing. Like he was cataloguing reactions I hadn’t meant to give him.
“You said I had a question and I asked it,” I reminded him, forcing myself to hold his stare this time.
“And?” he inquired with a sexy raise of his brow.
“And you gave me half an answer,” I replied, making those damn lips twitch again.
“You're certainly persistent, I will give you that,” he remarked, and I decided to do the same because, clearly, self-preservation had flown the fucking coop at this point.
“As persistent as you are evasive, it would seem.”
He gave me a little head nod at that, as if to say touché. Then, after a moment of contemplative silence, he released a slight sigh and told me,
“I give you half answers because one half is all you’re prepared to hear.”
I choked back a sound of disbelief at this before my jaw tightened.
“Try me.”
He regarded me in silence for a moment, something unreadable moving through his expression, softening the harder lines of his face just enough to make him look almost human…Almost.
“You’re not ready,” he said at last, and I was close to gritting my teeth at that.
