Page 88 of Claimed In Darkness

Like she’s preparing for something. As if she knows something I don’t.

That alone is enough to fucking set my teeth on edge.

I steer my mount closer to hers, keeping my voice low, controlled.

"You going to tell me what’s wrong with you?"

She doesn’t even glance at me.

"Nothing’s wrong."

A lie.

She says it too quickly, too smoothly.

She doesn’t even try to sell it.

That’s what pisses me off the most.

That she thinks she can just bury it, whatever the hell it is, and I’ll let her.

Like I don’t have the right to know.

Like I don’t own every inch of her already.

I exhale slowly, clenching my jaw, trying to keep the rage buried.

"Try again," I murmur, voice low, rough.

She glances at me, her expression blank, her mouth pressing into something like amusement.

"You worried about me, Zephiran?"

It’s a taunt.

A weak one.

She knows how to deflect, how to poke at me until I let the conversation die.

And normally, I would.

Normally, I’d let her keep her little damning secrets, let her stew in her own silence, let her dig herself deeper into whatever pit she’s pretending not to be sinking into.

Unfortunately, I can’t.

Not after what she gave me.

Not after last night, with the way she came undone under me. With the way she let me take everything, and how she moaned my name like it was a prayer and a curse in the same breath.

I pull my horse to a stop.

So does she.

The wind howls between us, rattling the dying leaves from the trees.

She looks at me.

I stare at her.

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