No response.
And then…
“I should thank whomever gave it to you. You deserved it.”
That tugged up the corner of my mouth.
“Thank you, healer. I’ll escort the Seer back now,” Itold him when he finished.
“Same time tomorrow. That knee needs to be worked daily.” He pointed at the binding around her leg.
“Absolutely,” she replied, shooting him a genuine smile.
Sickly, green envy curled vines around my heart.
Shoving the crutches under her arm, she hobbled into the hall. I followed, checking behind us before trotting to catch up with her.
“You will listen to me,” I hissed under my breath.
“Command me, then,” she shot back, fingers tightening over the wooden handles.
She wanted me to use my magic so she could continue to paint me a monster. Had my moments of vulnerability, of opening up about things I never talked about, not shown her who I was, deep down?
I wouldn’t use my power like that on her again. Because I’d already violated her, traumatized her, one time too many.
“I won’t force you. You don’t want that,” I said, frustration leaking into my tone. How could she not see I was taking her needs, her feelings into consideration? That was what she had wanted, was it not?
“Then it appears we are at an impasse,” she pointed out, keeping her focus straight ahead.
I exhaled a long breath, trying to rein in my rising emotions. With this female, maintaining a semblance of self-control—one I had worked so fucking hard to gain all those centuries ago—was impossible. “I didn’t know Dasha would be there to greet me. I was going to tell you after I figured out how to break it off.”
White dripped from Sylaira’s palms and curled around her ears to shut me out.
I yanked her into the next alcove, pinning her against the hard wall. My hands planted on either side of her head as Ileaned down.“If you try that again, I’ll force every word into your mind.”
She glared up at me, and fuck if that didn’t heat my blood in the best way.“Because you were never supposed to want anything, until you met me?”She blasted my own words back at me, bitterness drenching every single one.“It was all a game to get me to stop resisting my fate, wasn’t it?”
“Never. Never with you,”I replied.“I want you, Sylaira. More than I have ever wanted anything.”
“Then why isn’t your betrothal already broken?”
A muscle jumped in my jaw.“It’s complicated.”
An audible scoff slipped out of her. “Get off me, Issaraeth.”
“No,” I snarled, pressing my hard body into hers.
“I’ll scream,” she threatened, her tone deadly serious. Her fingers dug into the fabric of my tunic. A flicker of the time she’d shoved me away with her magic after our first kiss returned.
I leaned closer, my mouth brushing against the shell of her ear. “Go ahead. I’m the Issaraeth. I can Command them to leave us and forget what they saw.”
Her breath hitched. “You wouldn’t.”
“There are many things I wouldn’t do. But that is one I absolutely would.” I was bluffing about Commanding them to forget—my power didn’t extend that far. But she didn’t know that.
White blasted me backward. I knocked into a painting, sending it askew.
Sylaira was already rushing down the hall, her crutches clicking against the stone floor. I glanced back at the priceless art.
