Page 95 of Silk and Sirens

Sebastian raised a judging brow, the prick. “Fine,” he said after a beat. “But if she puts anyone here at risk, I won’t hesitate to fucking destroy her. Understand me?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t tell him Aeris had somehow buried her nails so deep under my skin it was becoming an addiction.

An obsession with the very woman sent to destroy me.

The women before Aeris had been nothing more than willing bodies, chosen for a need and discarded once I’d grown bored. Most had wanted the fantasy of taming something cruel for a night, to believe they’d seen something soft beneath the monster.

They never did.

But Aeris … Aeris fought me with fire. She never tried to soothe the violence in me, to soften or melt the monster. She met me head-on, clashing with me in twisted games that would always end with her staring up at me with pure, burning defiance in her eyes.

And maybe that was the problem.

She made me feel things I shouldn’t: possessiveness, hunger, the constant, gnawing need to keep her close enough that nothing else could touch her.

It was dangerous, because I no longer knew whether I wanted to destroy her … or consume her whole.

Aeris was asleep, arms bound tightly behind her back with her body slumped forward in the chair like a broken doll. Her hair had fallen over her face, and I clenched my fist at my side to keep from reaching out and brushing them back.

“She say anything?” I asked Langdon.

He shook his head, attention locked on her like a cat watching a mouse it wasn’t allowed to kill. When his gaze finally flicked to mine, I saw raw panic in it.

“I’m fine,” I said, grabbing the back of his neck and pressing our foreheads together so he could see the steadiness in my eyes. Only when the wildness in his expression eased did I let go. “You touch her?”

Langdon hesitated, then shook his head. “No,” he signed, fingers quick. “We thought you’d want to deal with her yourself.”

I glanced back at Aeris. The sight of her like this, helpless and exposed, sent a violent storm ripping through me. Not just rage at what she might have done, but because she looked so fucking vulnerable it made me want to destroy whoever had put her in this position … even if that person was me.

“Leave us.”

Langdon didn’t argue. He pressed a cold knife into my palm then slipped out, the heavy door clicking shut behind him.

The sound jolted Aeris awake. She blinked slowly, disoriented, until her gaze lifted and found mine. Her eyes widened at the sight of the black mask, but she recovered quickly, lifting her chin.

“You’re okay?” she asked, the concern in her voice sounding almost genuine.

“I am. No thanks to you.”

Apparently, I’d been lucky. Combined with the wine, Vivienne had slipped me enough of the drug to kill a smaller man. If Aeris hadn’t called Sebastian when she did, I probably would’ve stopped breathing before anyone realised something was wrong. According to the doctor, Sebastian’s emergency treatment had been the only thing keeping my organs functioning long enough for the poison to work its way out of my system.

“I’m the one that called for help.”

Crouching in front of her, I slowly pressed the flat of the blade under her chin, tilting her face up to meet mine. “You’re going to tell me exactly what happened last night,” I murmured, tracing the blade lightly along the delicate line of her jaw. “And if I even suspect you’re lying to me … I’ll make sure you never get the chance to betray me again.”

Her breath hitched, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she held my gaze, unafraid.

“She was never supposed to hurt you,” she whispered.

“So you knew what she’d planned?”

“Vivienne thought you’d be more … responsive if she slept with you. She wanted an aphrodisiac.” Aeris swallowed, the movement making the knife glide against her skin. “I gave her natural supplements. Nothing else, I swear.”

My grip on the hilt tightened.

“I didn’t know she’d bought something. Otherwise⁠—”

“Otherwise what? You’d have warned me?”