Peering at her, I scoff. “Don’t you think you have your hands full with all the other sprites you’re chasing after? The dragon is on another scale.”
She grins. “I just want to get to know him.”
“Of course you do,” I grumble, rolling my eyes.
“Don’t make this about me. You’re the one who snuck off while I ran a few errands. I was so panicked I had to?—”
“Where the fuck have you been?”
I freeze, my hand gripping the banister as I look up through my lashes to find Archer standing at the top of the stairs with his arms folded over his chest.
“That’s none of your business,” I snap back, irritation curling through my veins.
My nostrils flare as I falter under his intense stare before I’m moving, refusing to give him even more of a height advantage as he glowers at me.
As I reach the top of the stairs, he doesn’t step aside; he just towers over me.
“What were you doing?” His hands fall to his sides, his fingers flexing as if he’s desperate to reach out and feel the truth from me, and it drives me insane.
“Nothing.”
He sighs.
“When did you leave?”
I shrug.
“Who supervised you?”
“I supervised myself.”
A grumble rattles from his chest as his eyes narrow.
“Why are you making this harder than it needs to be?”
“Right back at you,” I retort, and he tilts his head up to the ceiling as if he’s searching for composure.
“How is this going to work if you don’t listen?”
“There is nothing for me to listen to.”
“You were lying in my arms a matter of hours ago,” he hisses, and I scoff.
“Because I didn’t remember the irreparable pain you’ve caused me. Now I do.” I fold my arms over my chest, trying to create a protective layer between us, but it’s not enough.
He grabs my chin before I can lean back, inching closer until the tips of our noses touch. “Do you really think you’re the only one hurting?”
I pause at his words, my chest threatening to explode with the way my heart races, while my pulse quickens in my ears and goosebumps tingle along my cheeks.
He takes my silence as encouragement to proceed.
“I watched you die, Ivy, wealldid. To watch you rise from those ashes is a gift from The Fates, a blessing none of us will ever be able to repay, but it slices just as deep when you run like this.”
I scoff, my emotions getting the better of me. “That’s the difference in our pain, Archer. You caused mine, all four of you, and?—”
“You seemed to forgive Teddy,” he interjects, cocking a brow at me, and I exhale slowly, scrambling to remain as calm as possible, but it’s not easy to hide my vulnerabilities.
“That was an error on my part. Especially when he didn’t intervene at the medical center and let me know I shouldn’t be climbing into bed with spineless Fire Protectors,” I grumble. “But that’s beside the point. The fact of the matter is, you caused my pain, and someone else killing me caused yours. This here, now, the distance, is still the consequence of your actions. I won’t feel guilty for that, nor will I take the blame for someone else pulling the trigger.”
