Page 127

“I’ve had centuries of practice.”

Another step brings me close enough that I have to tilt my head up a bit to hold his gaze.

He still doesn’t move.

But his hands curl at his sides. “Are you scared of me?”

“No.”

“The Harvest?”

“Yes.”

“What it wants?”

His jaw tightens. “Yes.”

I lower my voice. “What you want?”

Silence.

For the first time, Malakai looks away. Only for a second.

But that second tells me everything.

When his eyes return to mine, whatever restraint had been there is stretched so thin I can practically feel it between us.

“Yes.”

The word is almost a whisper.

There. That’s the answer that steals the air from my lungs.

I lift my hand toward his chest.

Malakai catches it before I can touch him.

My breath catches.

He isn’t pushing me away. He simply holds my hand between us, his fingers wrapped around mine while his thumb settles directly over the frantic beat of my pulse.

The red ribbon warms beneath his palm.

His eyes drop to it.

Then back to me.

“Tell me something first.”

My voice comes out quieter than I expect. “What?”

“If I touch you now, is it because you want me to?”

I stare at him.

After everything that’s happened tonight, the question shouldn’t be the thing that nearly breaks me.

But it is.