Page 68 of Hellish Witch

The embarrassment he’d staved off seconds ago came flooding back with a vengeance.

It was all aboutfeeding.

Of course it was.

He was the one to suggest my dark magic might be lashing out because it was hungry.

I’d lost control of my powers, and it had drained me. I must have looked terrible after killing those orcs and hurting those hybrids, since he’d put me straight to bed before deciding I needed energy too.

Last night didn’t mean a thing.

He was doing me a favour.

That stupid hope I’d been nursing for years seared to ash.

All the signs had been there from the start. I’d just been too stupid to heed them.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect this kingdom.”

“You shouldn’t touch me.”

“I’m here to make sure you’re not doing something reckless.”

“We’re not friends.”

I took every emotion rattling inside me and crumpled them into a tiny painful ball I could stuff deep, deep down. “You didn’t have to feed me last night,” I said, battling to keep my tone even.

He stilled, every muscle taut against my back. “I’d do anything for you, Eve.” He cleared his throat, shifting away from me and letting the cold air rush between us. “I have to.”

Hehadto.

A man had made me a fool. Again.

When would I learn?

Nobody actually wanted me. Not like that. Especially not him.

To my horror, moisture blurred my vision. I clenched my jaw against the sob building behind my fangs and carefully slipped out of Killian’s arms, rising from the bed without looking at him, and padding to the en suite.

“Eve?” Confusion saturated his lilting tone. “What’s wrong?”

I closed the flimsy door behind me with a soft click. “Nothing… Just…cleaning up.” My voice came out steady, and I mentally applauded myself for getting something right when it came to the incubus.

One thing was clear though.

Nothing like this could happen again.

An awareness pulsed in my mind, pulling me to a stop. The odd sensation lit up with the flickering sense ofsomethingmoving closer. Two of them. Both dangerous but not out for blood.

Not yet.

My brow scrunched up as I puzzled out the weird intuition. It pulsed with the static evidence of magic.

Though, how could I justknowsomething like that?

Killian halted beside me, watching my face with a carefully neutral mask.

We’d left the inn after a tense breakfast in the main tavern area and hiked all day in an awkward silence since. The Bloodwood stretched for miles as we followed the pretty river towards the forest’s edge.

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