“Closeness,” he muttered. “You’re right. It’s debilitating to feel you could lose it.”
Silence settled between us, but it wasn’t the comfortable stillness of last night. This one brimmed with tension–and I didn’t know why.
My frown had now taken residence on his face, darkening his gaze.
Had I said too much?
No, impossible. If anything, I hadn’t said it all.
“Allow me to give you the grand tour,” I said, needing to distract us both. Like if I tried harder, I would make it better. I stepped away, instantly missing his heat, and spread my arms in a big arch. “This is the bed.”
“Always good to have in a bedroom,” he said, playing along, but I felt his heart wasn’t in it.
“This is the balcony, where I sharpened that butter knife I pilfered,” I went on, voice thinning.
“You tried so hard not to make a noise,” he teased. Even that had sounded reluctant.
“Yeah, well, I didn't know I was dealing with an unnaturally gifted human.” I tsked. The dull roar in my ears began to ring again. My skin crawled, like I didn’t fit inside it anymore.
I should have been relieved, not fretting.
I turned to the table, busying myself with the parchments as I tried to quiet my galloping heart.
“And this is where Dax and I almost lost our minds today.” I gulped. What in Xamor’s name was going on? “And we’ll keep doing that day in and day out, until we find something.”
“Allie.”
The way he said that word stilled me.
It sounded like repentance.
A cold chill settled at the base of my spine, vanquishing the warmth I’d been indulging in only moments before.
“I need to tell you something,” he went on, stepping closer as my chest tightened.
“I’m–I’m listening,” I said, my entire body on edge.
Please.
Please not another blow.
Not right now.
Wordlessly, he stopped behind me. The sound of a blade hissing through the air filled my room.
He placed a dagger on top of the parchments.
It looked familiar.
Too familiar.
“What is this?” I managed to whisper.
My body recognized it before my mind caught up. Or maybe it simply refused to recognize the glint staring back at me.
“My dagger,” he said. “The one used to kill your father.”
Chapter 19
