I do not care.
We all know I am afraid.
I will hurt them even in fear.
I lift my gaze to Stein’s and see dimples curve in his white skin as he smiles at me, arching a dark brow.
“My son?” he asks quietly, playing stupid. He glances at his drink and takes a sip of the amber liquid.
I desperately want some of my own, but I push down the impulse.
After he swallows, his fingers holding the glass from the bottom, he looks to me again.
I refuse to answer him.
The fire crackles off to the side and I wonder if he’s lit one because of the frozen atmosphere of the underground, or if he’s using it for a more unsettling purpose.
Another scream rips through the false calm of the room.
My bodily reaction is unavoidable.
I startle, my gaze snapping up to the door across the room.
I take one step forward, like I might lunge for him.
It is Sullen screaming.
And this time, he does it again.
And this time, it isn’t abstract.
“Karia!” The sound is throaty, desperate, and I know he would never call out for me unless he was feeling utterly hopeless. Unless he was fatally injured.
My teeth clench.
There is a broken pause.
“Karia!”His voice shatters, sharp edges scratching at my heart.
Pressure builds behind my eyes.
I take another step forward.
I do not even look at the guards.
Thelonginginside of me—to comfort Sullen, to heal him, kiss his face—it wells up into something that will strangle me.
He consumes me.
I can’t stay away.
Fuck these men.
Fuck Stein Rule.
I dart around them, skirting toward the fireplace, the heat licking along the side of my face as I pass it.
It doesn’t escape me that no one moves for me.
