Page 12 of Legacy

“Why are you questioning me?” I wouldn’t reply and deny his guess.

“Why are you insulting me, insisting you have no ulterior motive?”

“Who said I do?” I shot back.

“I’m not blind. Nor am I stupid.”

“You’re—” I slammed my lips shut, aware with stark clarity how close I’d leaned in and how frustrated he seemed.

We both breathed heavily and quickly, stirred up from more than one disagreement. Sizzling between us was nothing but sexual tension, torrid and stubborn. It was a distraction I would not acknowledge to him.

I stepped back, needing a chance to breathe without his scent muddying my mind.

“I know you’re up to something.”

“You don’tknowme.”

“I will. And I already can tell you’re scheming. I plan to find out what.”

I tipped my chin up, pursed my lips, and lifted a brow. His eyes darkened, and for a flash, I saw pure, unadulterated lust staring at me.

“Sometimes,” he said, leaning closer once more before passing me to return to the house, “the most dangerous creatures are the beautiful ones.”

Four

Avra

After dinner, Vik and I left the house in the car our driver had left behind. As soon as we reached the main road outside the estate, I took a long, deep breath.

“That fucking bastard.” Vik pounded his hand on the steering wheel.

He wasn’t inclined to show emotions, but seeing the place ruined and transformed like that, with Ozias lording his control over my family’s home, had affected even him.

I nodded, gazing out the window momentarily to collect my composure. Now that I was out of Elias’s presence and free of Ozias’s, I wanted to decompress. To simmer down from being on edge.

But there was no time for it.

“Are you all right?”

I shot him a side-eye as he drove.

“I want to make sure you’re confident in your plan.”

“What, did you think seeing him would scare me off?” I shifted in my seat and reached under my dress to unclasp the holder for my blade, pulling it free from my waist before tucking it into a compartment at my feet.

Vik shook his head. “No, but…”

“But nothing. It’s too late, even if I want to change my mind. We’ve revealed ourselves. We’re here. We’re back.” I swallowed hard. “And we’re targets again.”

“What about him, though? Elias?”

I arched one brow, trying to figure out his concerns.

“I noticed the tension between you.”

I opened my mouth to remind Vik that Elias had to view me as the enemy as much as I did him, but I clamped my lips shut, trapping my retort in my mouth. I couldn’t blame our family rivalry forallthe tension that had sparked in the air.

Elias wasn’t anything I anticipated. It was disconcerting how this energy pulsed between us. And then there was how he looked at me when he walked me to the car, possessive and territorial.

---