Arousal sears through me.
It feels like we’re each daring the other to close the distance. Do I have the courage to do it?
11
MERYN
Before I can coax my brain into deciding one way or another, Stark turns away from me and stands. The electricity fizzles out. My hand slips from his hair as he goes.
Ithurts. More than it should, honestly. If that had gone any further, it would have been a mistake.
I don’t have a heart left to give, and Stark does not seem like the type to settle for pieces of a person. He’s controlled and demanding. He’d want it all.
Plus, it seems very likely that he has someone already.
I sit up, wincing. His body is rigid, his back to me as I pull my shirt down over my fresh tattoos. It’s silent between us again. He reaches up and smooths his hand over his hair, right where I touched him, as if to erase the evidence.
I chew my lip. Did I imagine that light in his eyes? Am I seeing things now, mind muddled by the mate bond between Anassa and Cratos?
“Be safe,” I say to the wall. “On your travels… with Noemi.”
The last part comes out more biting than I intended. Now is not the right time to question him about their relationship, but curiosity is eating me alive.
Stark turns halfway back toward me, his face an unreadable mask. “If I could avoid leaving, I would. It’s…” He lets out a frustrated grunt.
“What?” I push.
His eyes rise to mine, and there’s pain in his dark gaze. “My duty is protecting you, Meryn. It feelsshittyto leave you here. But getting the nobles to agree to come and legitimize your claim, that’s a way of protecting you, too.”
I blink, a little surprised that our relationship would cause him anything but exasperation and annoyance. My mouth goes dry as we stare at each other for a too long, weirdly heated moment. I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
He breaks it by saying, “Be careful around the Sovereign Alpha, okay? She’s always in service of her own ends.”
Seriously,whatis their deal? It seems like he loathes his mother. But we don’t have time to talk childhood trauma tonight, nor do I think he’d welcome it openly, so I just nod.
He turns, and over his shoulder, he says, “Have a good night.”
I thud back onto the chaise. The sound of the door shutting echoes in my ears.There’s something wrong with you, my brain hisses.
I reach out to Anassa, to distract myself with that closeness that we’re just starting to cultivate.“Where are you?”
Our minds connect for mere moments before I yank myself away in embarrassment. Of course, she and Cratos would be saying their goodbyes, with him also heading out in the morning.
But dear goddess, I donotneed to see that.
I reinforce the emotional wall between us that we use to keep out the mate bond. Maybe theirprivate timewas leaking through. Maybe that’s why I can’t shake the phantom sensation of Stark’s hot tongue tracing my ribs.
If only I believed that with any conviction.
In the morning, I fill Phylax Alpha Tormun in on everything I know about Killian and Alistair’s powers before he departs for his hunt. Then Siegrid summons me.
Summons.To theroyal chambers, where she’s made herself comfortable. As if she were the queen.
I try not to chafe at that; after all, I stole her rooms first, and I don’t want anything to do with these ones. But as I reach up and knock on the door, I once again have the sense that I’m not really in charge here.
She opens the door quickly. “Come inside.”
Siegrid leaves the doorway. I step through and shut the door behind me, watching her stride across the room. She really does move like she owns the air around her.
