But you did.
Only because being at a distance from you through this would kill her, Eli argues.
That doesn’t change that she’s here with me.
And me, asshole. You think I’d let her walk into your arms while I’m more than a room away? We would have arrived together if it weren’t for the damn snowstorm. She’s only here because she has to be close to you, but I’m the one who will take care of her needs. And get your fucking fingers off her.
My hand falls from under her chin.You followed her? Where are you? This is why you’ve been blocking your location for days?
Give her back my knife, and I’ll let you live another day. I know you took it back from Fable days ago and blocked me. I hear everything through these walls.
He only thinks he hears all that goes on. I know how to wait for him to be distracted. I feel for his knife.Who knows what she’ll do with this thing. She’s unpredictable.
Give it back. Now!
Okay, alright.
I pull the knife from a side pocket. “Here. You might need this.”
She snatches it from my hand, slides off the sheath and presses the tip into my belly. “How long have you had this? Why didn’t you give it to me?Why?!”
“This is why!” I gesture to my stomach, but she holds steady.
Eli’s voice slithers back into my head like a parasite, eating at my nerves.You know what I could do with her hand while that knife is against your flesh.
I’m aware. I take in a breath, pulling back from the blade. One thought and he could kill me by her hand. I can’t think of a more poetic, fucked-up way to go.
I wouldn’t. For her.
I scoff.I’m not sure I can say the same.
Which is why you don’t deserve her,he grinds out.
Ever pulls the knife back. “I-I didn’t mean it. I’m tired. It hurts.”
“You might need to try the meat,” I say, bracing for a scream. But she only drops her forehead to her knees and skips straight to a silent sob.
I shove my thoughts toward Eli, my patience lost.You say I don’t deserve her, yet you’re here and not under Zandrite’s watch, and you’ve let her go hungry for three days. She’s shaking. She can barely hold herself together.
You idiot, Eli scolds.She’s not shaking from hunger. At least not for food. She’s in pain and needs a good fuck. She needsme.
You can’t even touch her.I put an arm around her, squeezing gently.I can take care of her. I’m in the same situation. I can barely breathe.
You will not touch her like that,Eli commands.And you’re a dead man if you hold her again tonight.
I send him a mental shrug.She gets cold.
You just want your hands on her.
I rub my face. All of his ancestors’ memories in my head are enough without his live commentary.Do you blame me?
I will break your bones one by one until you forget what she looks like.
You’d feel that,I remind him.
Eli sighs.I know you get yourself off while she sleeps. I prefer that over you even breathing on her, which says a lot considering I feel that shit every night too.
No privacy anymore. Some things I can’t block him from.It only takes the edge off. This is about connection, and my hand doesn’t cut it.
