Page 40 of Claimed In Darkness

But she doesn’t.

She just faces forward again.

Ignoring me.

Again.

As the capital looms closer, a familiar ache creeps into my bones, slow and insidious, like teeth biting into my flesh from the inside.

The curse is waking.

Too soon. Too fast.

I school my expression into something unreadable, but Naira is watching me.

Her gaze feels like a living entity hellbent on discovering every nook and cranny of myself.

She is too fucking observant for her own good.

"You’re quiet," she says. "I don’t like it."

I exhale slowly, shifting in the saddle, rolling my shoulders to loosen the tightening pain.

"Maybe I’m thinking about all the ways I could punish you once we arrive."

She snorts. "As if you need a reason."

My vision blurs for a second.

The pain spikes, sharp, cracking through my ribs like lightning.

Shit.

Not here. Preferably later.

I sink my nails into my palm, focusing on the heat of the road, the steady rhythm of the horse beneath me.

Nairaeyes narrow.

She’s aware that something’s wrong. Or different with me.

She fucking knows.

"Something wrong?" she asks, her voice smooth, but there’s something else in it.

Something like curiosity. Suspicion.

I glance at her, my lips curling into something sharp.

"Not at all," I lie.

She doesn’t believe me.

She doesn’t say anything but I feel it.

The shift in our surroundings.

The way she watches me now—not like she’s ending me, but like she craves to understand me.

---