Page 118 of His Eternal Claim

“Selene?”

Something is deeply wrong with me. The walls are closing in.

“Dolcezza.” I snap my head up. Zagreus has been calling my name for a while. He’s sitting at the head of the table, his fork resting against the plate, his eyes narrowed as he studies my face.

Panic spikes in my chest. I quickly put on a bright smile, forcing my shoulders to relax as I meet his stare.

“Sorry,” I say. “I guess I was just lost in thought. Did you say something?”

Zagreus doesn’t smile back. He leans back in his chair as he takes in the shadows under my eyes.

“I asked if you liked the dessert,” he murmurs. “But you haven’t even touched your dinner, Selene. You’ve been staring at the wall for ten minutes.”

“I’m just not very hungry tonight,” I lie softly, reaching out to stir the food on my plate. “The winter is nearing. It makes me a little sluggish, that’s all.”

I think he’ll buy my excuse, but Zagreus stands. He walks the length of the table and stops beside my chair. He leans down, crowding my space, his large hand coming up to cup my chin, tilting my face up so I have no choice but to drown in his stormy stare.

“You’re trembling, Dolcezza.” His thumb traces the line of my jaw. He scans my features, looking for the enemy I’m hiding from him. “Don’t lie to me. What is happening in that beautiful head of yours?”

“Nothing.” My voice trembles despite my best efforts to keep it steady. “Just… thinking about Mama. And how much has changed in such a short time.”

It isn’t an entire lie, but it’s enough of a shield to keep him from peering into the terrified corners of my mind. How could I tell him? How could I explain that this house he built for me feels like a gilded cage haunted by unseen ghosts? If I tell him I feel watched, he’ll tear this house apart looking for a security breach. If he finds nothing, he’ll know the rot is inside my own head. I can’t let him look at me with pity. I can’t let him think his wife is losing her mind.

Zagreus’s eyes narrow. He doesn’t look fully convinced.

“You’re a terrible liar,” he rasps, his breath warm against my cold lips. “But I’ll let it slide for now. Only because I have to leave.”

My fingers curl into the fabric of his trousers. “Leave? Now?”

“A meeting with the Bianchi faction,” he says, his jaw tightening slightly as his hand drops from my face to rest heavily on the back of my chair, leaning over me. “There’s a dispute regarding the shipping ports. It won’t take long, but it requires my presence.” He pauses, his stormy gaze sweeping over my pale face, noting the way my breathing has hitched. “Will you be alright here alone for a few hours?”

“Yes,” I say, the word flying out of my mouth too fast, too desperate. I force another bright, hollow smile onto my face. “Of course. I’ll just… read a book. Or take a bath. I’ll be completely fine, Zagreus.”

He stands up straight, and I expect him to walk away. Instead, he folds his arms across his chest.

“But I can take you with me,” he offers quietly. “If you don’t want to stay here, come with me. I’ll keep you where I can see you.”

My heart does a strange, frantic flip against my ribs. The thought of staying in this vast, quiet dining room with the prickling sensation on my neck makes my stomach churn with a sickening dread. But going with him? Into a room full of dangerous, cutthroat men who already view me as a liability or a weapon to be used against him?

But at least he will be there. In his space, the shadow can’t touch me.

“Yes,” I breathe out before I can talk myself out of it. I stand up from the chair, my hands gripping his forearms. “Please. Take me with you. I don’t want to stay here tonight.”

He reaches up as his large hand cups the back of my neck, pulling me forward until my forehead rests against his chest. “Then go get a coat. We leave in five minutes.”

The drive to the downtown sector is calm. Zagreus keeps one hand firmly wrapped around mine, his thumb rubbing circles over my knuckles, his eyes on the dark, rain-slicked streets outside.

When the SUV finally pulls into the underground garage of a nondescript, high-end commercial building, the atmosphere shifts instantly. Four heavily armed guards open our doors.

Zagreus steps out first, then pulls me out behind him, keeping me tucked securely against his flank as he guides me through a private elevator and up to a secluded executive floor.

We bypass the main boardroom. Instead, Zagreus unlocks another room, more like a private office.

“You stay in here,” he commands softly, turning to face me as the door clicks shut behind us. “There’s a private bathroom through that door, and a bar if you need water. But you do not open this door for anyone, Selene. Do you understand me?”

I nod. “I understand.”

“Unless it is me turning that handle, you do not move. If anyone else tries to come through that door, you scream. Clear, Dolcezza?”