“Thenleave with me,” he repeated, inching closer. “My life will be fine.” His nose brushed mine in a soft caress, fingers tightening around mine. “Ourlife will be fine. No forced heir to carry, no imposed marriage, no—”
“I can defend myself,Dimitri.”
His name on my lips made him release a shuddering breath, the warm air hitting my parted lips as his forehead connected with mine in a comforting touch.
“I—you need to let me go.”
It was the wrong thing to say. The muscles of his shoulders tensed, his jaw clenched. His free hand reached the back of my head, fingers sliding between strands of hair.
“You think I can?” Dimitri asked, a desperate edge to his voice. “My soul belongs to yours. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t leave you behind.”
“You don’t even know me.”
His chuckle was a little dry but it warmed my whole body nonetheless. “I know you’re unhappy. I know you’re sad, angry, and lonely. I know you want more from your life than being married off to the fuckingDragons. I know you crave love, touch, freedom…”
By the stars, that man made my skin feel too tight for my burning soul. My heart missed a few beats as his lips grazed mine without ever touching them fully. If he came just a little closer, my back would meet the grass.
Panic rose in my chest. He was too close. There was no way Amyntas wouldn’t scent Dimitri all over me.
My hand grabbed the second knife attached to my belt and I gasped as I brought it to his throat once again. The blue of his eyes glinted in surprise, a mischievous smile stretching the corner of his lips.
“Oh, so we’re back to threatening my delicate skin with dull blades, are we.” I frowned. “Oh, come ondusha moya. You might believe that you can defend yourself, but if you believe your poor fighting skills paired with a dull pruning knife will do any real damage to me, we have work to do.”
His amused response to my scoff made my blood boil. “Iknowhow to fight.”
“Sure. I’ve seen you hit and try to slice that straw training dummy, and you were utterly terrifying. I wonder how it remained standing? I know in its place, I would have been laughing on the floor.”
Well, ouch. I thought I was getting better by the day, even though my secret self training sessions were rare.
“What do you even know about—”
I was cut short by his deep, booming laugh. Again,ouch. It was not a good day for my pride. “You’ve seen me fight and kill a Hellhound.How are there still any doubts in that mind of yours that I’m perfectly able to judge your fighting skill and ability to defend yourself?”
My jaw dropped, but I didn’t remove the apparently useless knife from his throat.
However, it took Dimitri half a second to send it scattering away and finally make my back connect with the ground.
“But sure, let’s pretend for one second that you can fight your way out of this situation. Any other knife hidden on that leather belt of yours? And by knife, I mean something sharper than one designed to cut mushrooms off the ground.”
Blood rushed to my cheeks, probably coloring them a bright, embarrassing red.Smug asshole.
“Or any move you might know to push me away?” he taunted, settling between my legs, sending a strange and warm feeling in my lower stomach. “Go ahead.Defendyourself. I won’t even fight back.”
Both his hands were now supporting his weight next to my head, caging me in. My attempts to push at his chest were futile and no matter how hard I tried to move under him, he wasn’t budging an inch.
Well fuck.
“Anytime, Anastasia,” he crooned.
“I’mtrying.”
“Are you? Huh.”
I pinched his bicep in outrage—also because I wasn’t above playing dirty—and he had the audacity to laugh.
Dimitri brought his lips to my ears and murmured, “Close your legs around my waist,dusha moya.”
I swat at his chest and hissed, “Are you insane? Let me go!”
