Page 88 of Cursed Shadows 5

I consider him. “If I tell you to leave, will you really leave, or will you find a spot outside to watch my window?”

“I would watch your window.” There is no shame in the way he looks at me, no embarrassment in blush of his cheeks. “Eamon is not here. I do not trust that you are wholly safe.”

I scoff. “And how you love to keep me safe.”

His mouth turns down at the corners.

The Mountain of Slumber flashes in his mind, as it does mine. There was no greater danger he could have thrown me into.

And yet he did.

My stare is blank. “Cook.”

He does.

He sears the wild ox strips in the seasoned buttered pan, then lets the cubed potatoes simmer in the flavouring, then pours a freshly brewed tea, and cuts a slice of bread. He plates it all up, then brings it to the sidetable tucked against the arm of my chair.

I eat.

Daxeel lowers himself onto the armchair opposite mine, and he watches me. Silent. Patient.

“Did you buy the tavern for Eamon?”

My question startles him.

His lashes flutter before he arches his brows. “I did.”

“Is it your tavern?”

“I own a share.”

He doesn’t tell me how big that share is.

I chew on the soft, melting meat, then swallow. “Did you give him the gold—for him… or for me?”

“Both.”

Hedda has sniffed out my meal. Abandoning her bone, she pounces onto my lap and sits, ready, drooling.

I shoo her off.

She grumbles but obeys, and sits primly at my feet.

“Do you want for anything more?” Daxeel’s voice is too soft, too broken. “Anything at all.”

He lures in my gaze—and I want for more.

I want the impossible.

I want his apology, his undiluted love, his knees on the ground at my feet, his salty tears spilling for me, his blood staining my teeth, his heart beating in my hand.

I want too much.

And most of all, I want him to hurt.

“Yes.”

He stills, waiting.

---