“This is terrifying.” I shudder.
“Isn’t,” he coos, gliding his palm from my thigh, over my hip, to my waist. There, his chilled fingers plant and his whisper near my ear taunts my sanity, “It’sfun.”
Fun.
Yes.
Of course.
Silly me.
Feeling like I’m burning alive is super duper jolly.
After all the pretty fire burns out, we will feed the monsters in the woods from our scrap bucket as though they are pond ducks, because this?Allofthis? It’s, actually, a date. A really, really cute and normal little date.
Just like bedroom cages, this—my dear unaware one—ispeakromance.
I whimper.
For perhaps the seventieth time since Castor started this fire, I regret my decision to pretend I’m in a tampon commercial andnot gonna let my cycle stop me!So the fact I’m still on my period ups the mental load of this nonsense by a rough two million percent.
I could have been safe and cozy and warm in my cage, watching the CapyZahra stream I missed last night.
Butnoo.
I wanted to be tied up in a bonfire.
Of all the stupid, idiotic, hair-brained—
Castor chuckles, breaking my inner monologue. “Imagine if Cael showed up right now.” Merry, he clasps my chin and indulges in nibbling my jaw. “He’d be appalled.” He kisses. Licks. “I’m truly…terrible.”
My stomach knots. “What makes you say that?”
“I’m loving this. You’re facing hormonal cacophony, terror, and mental suffering while I’m enjoying myself. I am reveling in your trauma response.”
“My…trauma response?”
“This is my fault. I suggested it. I tied you here. Instead of casting blame or leaning into anger, you cling to those who hurt you. Though my motivations are genuinely for your benefit, I am certain you’d find a way to excuse them even if they weren’t.” He tugs on my hair and tastes me from my clavicle to my chin. “I’m addicted to the way you are inclined to perceive me, even though I know it’s wrong. Being seen asbetterthan I am is a drug I’ve seldom had access to.”
More heat assaults me, because my blood warms in me until it’s boiling. “I don’t want liking me to be wrong. Even if bad things are why I am the way that I am, it’s too late to undo them. I am this way now. I want you to like how I am. I want you to like me.”
“Like,” he echos. “How weak a word.” He wets his lips. “What I feel for you soars realms beyondlike. My adoration knows no limits. I want so much for you, but it conflicts with what I want for myself. I wish for your freedom—but only if you use it to choose to cage yourself in my hands. I want you bold—so long as you fearlessly beg me to shackle you. It seems I have taken quitefully to the allure of calling youmine. The delusion that you might wish for me to own you is one I must break, yet I fight the very thought ofnotpossessing your every inch. Do you see me, my feather? Are you bearing full witness to the monster you have asked for? This is me when I ammyself.”
This is, as I said before, the hottest thing I have ever experienced.
Resting my head back against the log behind me, I control my breaths and close my eyes.
Danger nips. Fire kisses. Heat settles against my fingernails.
I have been standing here, unharmed, for ten solid minutes.
Ten minutes in fire.
And I’mfine.
“I,” I begin, slowly, “like you as yourself.” A heavy breath enters, and leaves. “Ilikeyou.”
Castor swears, then his mouth returns to my lips, drinking me in, robbing my oxygen quicker than the flames ever could. “Oh, darling,” he whispers when he’s had his fill of me for the moment. “You say the most seductive things.” Cupping my cheeks, he presses his forehead to mine. “Are you easing yet, love?”
