I held his gaze. ‘What exactly are you referring to?’
‘The little vixen,’ he smirked. ‘Your little mate?’
I saw red. ‘Don’t call her that.’
‘Which one?’ he asked, clueless. ‘She smelled of you when she found me, you know? I thought she was just a hook-up until I realised she knew your name. How cruel is fate to pair a fire fae with a witch?’
Blaze looked genuinely perplexed, but I couldn’t stop the anger rising at his words. ‘I don’t care that she’s a witch. Besides, she’s part fire fae as well.’
‘It doesn’t bother you at all? Her people tortured and cursed ours—’
My fist slammed against the desk, making everything rattle. ‘They harmed and nearly killed her too. Her own mother cursed her to die. It took me two days to heal her; she was completely depleted.’
A frown overtook his face. Whether it was the way I screamed or how hot the room had grown, I neither knew nor cared.
‘I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.’ He cleared his throat, averting his gaze for a moment as something like shame spread across his face. ‘She looked done with your ass. How are you going to get her back?’
Looking ahead, stuck in my thoughts and worries, I racked my brain for a plan. ‘I don’t know. It helps that we haveto search for the Crones together. It gives me a chance to show her I care.’
Blaze cringed before inspecting his chipped bright pink nails. ‘That’s it?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, that's a great fuck-up. You traded her. It seems some serious grovelling would be necessary. I know for a fact Emily would hang me by my balls for that…’
‘You think I don’t fucking know that?’
Then he paused and looked away, scratching his beard as though something was actually bothering him. As though he wasn’t sure whether to continue the conversation. ‘Why did you even do that?’ he asked, his voice quieter.
I stared into his eyes, trying to figure out where our parents went wrong with him. ‘Are you serious?’
‘I’m struggling to believe you didn’t have any idea who she was to you. How delusional were you?’
Heat built in my chest, the room growing warmer by the second. I took a calming breath before I did something else I regretted. ‘You’re really making me want to punch you, Blaze.’
An infuriating chuckle escaped him as he started rocking in his chair. ‘Tell me something I don’t know. Why?’
Moments like this made me understand why Ava hated my tendency to analyse her behaviour. It felt invasive.
‘What are you getting at?’ I asked. ‘I don’t have time for your mind games.’
He swung faster, then stopped abruptly. ‘Were you scared?’
‘Of?’
‘Having a mate. Or a mate who’s a witch,’ he said like it made any difference. ‘What it would mean…’
‘My instincts had been wrong before so I couldn’t exactly rely on that; besides, the chance that she was mine was so slim—‘
My brothersmirked. ‘Ah, so you admit you had suspicions.’
It appeared he wanted to emphasise how much of an asshole I had been. ‘Blaze, are you trying to make me feel like shit on purpose?’
‘No.’ Using his pinky as a lighter, he lit a cigar and sent a puff of smoke my way. ‘Just trying to make you give it some thought.’
In retaliation, I sent a cloud of flame his way that charred the tips of his eyebrows. ‘And you think I haven’t done that?’
The miserable dickhead chuckled, touching the singed hairs. ‘I think you still haven’t dug deep enough to know why you did what you did besides attempting to save me.’
