“Quit making up stories about me, Blair. It’s not courteous.”
I snorted softly, turning my neck to free it from his hand.
The loss of his warmth felt almost suffocating.
“Don’t you think it’d be fair that you get to know me before passing judgment?” he asked. “I don’t believe everything I hear about you.”
I turned my head toward him in panic. “What have you heard about me?”
He smirked. “Nothing I’d judge you for.”
“I don’t want to know the real you,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “I wish you’d never sat behind me. Wished you’d never cut my hair for whatever sick reason you justified in your head.”
“This is where I first laid eyes on you,” he muttered in a low voice.
“What?” My voice cracked.
His fingers slipped beneath the collar of my coat, lowering the fabric just enough to let his icy fingers brush the side of my neck. “When you first arrived at Saint Vale, I watched that asshole abandon you here and then watched you climb those steps in the rain.” He leaned in, his mouth edging toward my ear. “That’s when I decided you were mine.”
“I don’t want to be yours.” I hated how frail my voice sounded. Hated how tight my gut knotted.
“Too late. You’ve already piqued my interest.”
“Not my problem.” I lifted my chin. “Find another interest.”
A low chuckle slipped from him. The first one I’d heard leave his lips that wasn’t frigid. “That’d actually create a bigger problem for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your life depends on being my Fawn.”
All air nearly left my lungs right then. “What?” I stuttered out that one word in three breaths.
“Jett fucked you over from the moment he opened his mouth. No one learns about the Night Sons and lives long enough to talk about it. You were never supposed to know. You’re an outsider.”
Everything suddenly felt colder and darker.
To stop myself from crying, I stared ahead, wishing the night would swallow me up.
“He handed you a death sentence,” Enzo said. “So this is the time you stop pretending you have a choice, Blair.”
My breath hitched. “And if I refuse?”
“You die.” He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t have to.
He was also done hiding the Night Sons’ existence.
That was now the power he had over me.
Something inside me snapped, and I jumped off the wall, landing hard on the ground. My heart raced as I stomped away, finding my way back to the steps that led to the entrance.
My stomps broke into a run when I heard Enzo behind me.
The faster I could escape him, the better.
Neither he nor the damn Night Sons would determine my fate.
My lungs hurt, and the wind stung my cheeks as I raced for the steps, but it still wasn’t enough.
