Page 27 of The Girl in the Forest

Until the dread lord’s sigil drove the ice back.

The power needed to do that nearly stopped my lungs. But everything about this situation was wrong for so many reasons. Grayson said he did it for me, and yet he withheld the truth, and still expected me to trust him—when I didn’t know how to trust a man like that, not after everything he’d said. And not said.

“You don’t have to trust me,” Grayson ground out. “Trust our bargain. It means what we say it means.”

And having him answering a question I’d only thought about was worse than the magic granting every wish—it was suffocating. “You said you’d break our bargain if it was too much for me.”

A taunting smile flashed. “I didn’t stop you from going into the wrinkle, Noa. You could have stayed with the nymphs. That was your way out.”

“I’d be giving up everyone I loved.”

“So, you came back for them?” His canines flashed. “What about me?”

What about him? Agitation hammered hard enough to weaken my spine. I didn’t know why I kept arguing when I always lost. Why I didn’t realize everything about Grayson was a threat, a warning in the dark clothes and the edge of the alpha tattoo, glaringly visible near the collar of his shirt?

“You’re a dread lord,” I hissed. “I’m a means to an end for you. Nothing more.”

“And you’re angry,” he hissed in return. “I need you to breathe, Noa. To think. You’re too intelligent to believe what you’re saying.”

Did I believe what I said? Or was it bitterness forming the words?

My reaction to his wolf energy was stronger than before. Everything he gave off I absorbed, a rush and a danger that I couldn’t stop.

Heat flared through my veins in an escalating tumult, and that concerned me.

I tightened my grip on the low wall. Focused on the press of my fingers against the sharp wood edge while my gaze darted from the path to the shadowed pine trees beyond.

I didn’t know what I was looking for… the Green Man’s face, wreathed in ivy?

Caerwen, coming to help me?

“Convince me,” I managed, my knuckles cracking beneath the force of my grip. “Tell me why I’m not a means to an end.”

“If you were, I would have demanded your protection by now. I would have turned you into a bigger monster than you think you are, and I would not have let you leave.”

The truth in what he said had me gritting my teeth. “Was I ever something more than what you could use?” My pitch rose. One more thing I couldn’t control. “Did you ever see me?”

“I’ve seen you from the moment we met, Noa. I can’t stop seeing you. I’ve never lied about that.”

His sincerity almost earned my trust, but I was breaking into a million pieces. The energy he gave off was overwhelming. The expressions on his face sent my heart racing. Being this close to him, seeing him—that was all it took for my body to betray me. For my memory to flash back to the night when he’d inked the runes. Firelight had bronzed his skin. I remembered his hands against my arm, my hand, my breast, the warmth of silk covering steel. The prick of the bone needle. The brush of his mouth against my shoulder.

His muscles were taut and straining beneath his skin. “Listen to me, Noa,” he said. “I didn’t want you drawn into this mess. I’d hoped you could go on with your life.”

“I am going on with my… life…” The words came out strangled. “Just here and not… there.”

Tension had him jerking his head to the side. Sucking in a deep breath.

“The decision to let you go to Aine was never mine,” he said. “Or yours. The King of the Forest wanted you in the wrinkle. He wanted the nymphs to tell you the truth, teach you, prepare you for the consequences if you came back.”

My teeth chattered. “Why?”

“The destruction of Azul was nothing compared to what those creatures can do now. They’re evolving. And yes, I inked my sigil on your skin, knowing I was drawing half a circle. Triggering magic. I’d do it again if I had to, but I’ll never ask that of you.”

My heart beat hard enough to make my voice unsteady. “Why didn’t you tell me this before I went into the wrinkle?” At least, I would have been warned.

“Fee insisted.” Grayson shoved a hand through his hair. “He can’t change what happened between the kings and queens, or how we’re tied up in it. But he agreed to let you decide for your own reasons. Whatever this is, the attacks coming from the north, they’re connected to that old shit-show. I wanted you safe with Aine until all this was over.”

“Until you were dead, Grayson.” I thought about courage, making hard choices, and pulled in a stuttered breath. “That’s the only way it will ever be over. When you’re dead. And I won’t value my life over that of everyone I know.”

---