He exhaled. Rough. “It’s too late.”
What the devil did a man do now? And what the blazes did he mean by saying that? He didn’t know. But he couldn’t stop himself either.Promises were only as good as the people who made them.But she made him want to listen to all her promises. She made him believe there was something left in him worth touching.
Worth saving.
Worth believing in.
But only for a moment.
A woman like her didn’t really belong with a man like him. She lived in the light, while he lived in the shadows. She needed protection, while he still had to fight. Still had to find the rat who hurt his brother and set lit matches to his property. Used her to distract him.
“Why does this feel like something we can’t undo?” she asked.
Because it was. “Nothing that’s happened can ever be undone.” Only forgotten. And even that was impossible in most cases. And if she walked away now, he’d ache for her in ways he didn’t have language for. He didn’t know how to do this. How to want someone with such force. How to be wanted by someone back.
Her thumb brushed along the scar that cut his lip. Maxen closed his eyes, letting the moment soak into him.
He hadn’t been touched like this before.
Not ever. Not by someone who saw all the cracks and touched him so gently anyway. Who didn’t flinch at his scars. Who didn’t recoil at his truths. Not even in the moments he’d taken care of his needs. They were just impulses being dealt with. No need for real care.
He tangled their fingers together again, lifting their joined hands to his mouth. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles. If this was a dream, he’d rather die than ever wake up.
“I need you to be safe,” he said, voice thick. He needed that morethan he needed anything else.
“You don’t have to keep me in a cage to do that.”
Who said he couldn’t do just that? “I’m not sure I know another way. And this is not a cage.”
She smiled then. “Ship, then. I know you want to lock me up.”
What could he say? It was the damn truth.
“You know,” she murmured, “solutions that are found together obtain victory together.”
Her words struck something deep inside him. They were true, but for one thing. Both parties must commit to the solutions or both risked losing out. This woman before him, she was the sort to commit.
Christ, he wanted to claim her lips again.
No, heneededto kiss her but... Could he keep his soul, his damn nerve, if he did? He didn’t think he’d be able to stop if he did. If this continued, he would take something from her he could not return...
Maxen stepped back, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. The pained growl left him before he could stop himself. “You should leave.”
Chapter Twenty
Calliope should run.She most certainly should leave. So she just did that. What set him off, she didn’t know, but his abruptness startled her into flight. She’d made it halfway to the door, Prince on her heels, before something had her stop, heart dropping to her belly then shooting back to her throat before dropping again.
Not something.
A name.
Hername.
Spoken like a curse and a plea all at once. A release of breath she wasn’t meant to hear. Maybe it was the sting braided through each note, or the memory of his eyes, his hands, his kiss, all together.
Calliope turned back.
By the stars. No.
