I really don’t want to finish that sentence. He says nothing, eyes gleaming in the firelight, and the silence builds until I can’t bear it any longer.
“More than that. You became more than that.” I don’t give him a chance to say anything, and ask my next question. “Why did I feel the summons on the hill? When you called your warriors, I felt it too. Like hooks dragging me toward you. What was that?”
“That’s two questions. Pick one.”
I glare at him. He responds by taking a sip of wine, utterly unbothered.
“Fine. Why did I feel it?”
“Your proximity to me.”
I wait for more. He remains silent.
“That’s not really an answer.”
“It’s the answer I’m giving you.” His lips curve slightly. “The bargain accepted it.”
He’s right. The bargain hasn’t forced him to elaborate. I want to reach across the space between us and shake him, but the bargain has moved on. That means it’s his turn.
“Are you attracted to me?”
I choke on air. “That’s … I don’t …” I try to deflect, but the bargain won’t let me. “It’s complicated. My body responds to you, but I don’t want it to. Attraction implies wanting, and I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this.” The words tumble out faster now, beyond my control. “Except … when you’re close, I can’t think straight. My pulse races. I think about you at night when I should be planning how to escape, and instead I’m—” Heat floods my face. “Yes. I don’t want to be attracted to you, but I am.”
His eyes narrow slightly. I catch something in his expression—satisfaction, maybe—but his voice is smooth when he speaks.
“Your turn.”
“Therin and Vel reacted to your call as well. Why would I feel the same thing they did?”
He shrugs. “That’s how the magic works.”
Another non-answer the bargain is happy to accept.
His head tilts, and when he speaks again, his voice is deeper, lower, a murmur meant for bedrooms and darkness.
“Did you like what you saw when I bathed in the stream?”
The memory fills my mind immediately. Water streaming down his back, the marks appearing on his skin as the dirt washed away. The way he’d looked over his shoulder at me, knowing I was watching. The way my mouth had gone dry.
“I didn’t mean to stare. I looked away at first. But I keptlooking back. I couldn’t help it.” My voice drops to a whisper. “I’ve never seen anyone who looks like you. Never seen a man’s body like yours … the scars, the markings, the way you move. And I knew you knew I was watching and that made it worse.”
I bite my lip and force myself to meet his eyes.
“Yes. I liked what I saw.”
His expression doesn’t change, but the quality of his stillness does. His eyes sharpen, turning focused, and my heartbeat picks up speed.
I’m the prey. I’ve been the prey this whole time, and I walked right into this bargain thinking I was the only one hunting for answers.
“It’s my …” My voice shakes, and I stop to clear my throat. “It’s my turn. What doesMoirthalenmean?”
One corner of his mouth tips up. “It means ‘spoiled princess,’ or ‘pampered one.’”
Of course it does. I’ve heard the edge beneath the word every time he says it. The mockery and dismissal. I shouldn’t care what he calls me. He’s my captor. His opinion shouldn’t matter.
It shouldn’t.
“Do you think about it?”
