Page 79 of Court of Lies and Deceit

“You could’ve been killed!”

“So could you!”

“Don’t fucking start with me. You and I both know thatIwould’ve had better odds against nine people than you did.”

Frustration rips at my chest. Mostly because he’s right. Grinding my teeth, I cross my arms to protect myself against the storm of emotions that has been raging inside me for months now and that is threatening to break free.

“Instead of getting angry, you could’ve just said thank you,” I snipe back at him.

Disbelief pulses across his face. “For what? You almost getting yourself killed?”

“I wasprotectingyou!”

He blinks, looking stunned.

Forcing out a harsh breath, I uncross my arms and instead rake my fingers through my hair in frustration. That knot of pent-up emotions twists like snakes in my chest. Behind me, the gauzy curtains ripple again, and a warm wind smelling of blooming flowers and warm stone ripples through the room, making my hair flutter. I let my arms drop again.

“I was protecting you,” I repeat, glaring up at Draven. “You once confronted me about how I always take care of everyone else while no one takes care of me. Well, you’re the same, you stubborn idiot. You’re so used to doing everything on your own. But you don’t have to do everything on your own anymore!”

Draven just stares at me for a moment, looking uncertain. But then that frustrated anger returns, and he blows out a forceful breath. “But that’s the problem. You didn’t try tohelpme. You shoved me through a fucking wall and then locked it behind me so that you could do it on your own. Our best chance of beating them wastogether!”

Logically, I know that he is right. But I wasn’t thinking logically when I made that decision. Those furious emotions thrum inside me, threatening to break through my ribcage. I drag in a deep breath, trying to calm the storm.

“So why the hell did you lock me out to face them on your own?” Draven snaps, throwing his arms out in frustration.

Anger crackles through me. “Because they hadwhips!”

“I can handle?—”

“I don’t care! I’m not letting anyone near you with a fucking whip ever again!”

“That’s why you did it?”

“Of course it is!”

“That’s insane! The whips weren’t going to kill me. Butyou, you could have died! Why would you risk your life like that?”

“Because I love you!”

He jerks back, staring at me with wide eyes. His mouth is still open, stuck on his next argument, but no words make it out.

My chest heaves, and everything inside my soul is thrumming with desperate tension, but I can’t stop now. The words keep pouring out of my mouth like an unstoppable flood.

“I love you,” I repeat, my heart beating out of control. “And I have loved you ever since we fell through the ceiling of that underground forest and you flipped us over to protect me from the hits and then handcuffed me and pulled me close and held me as I slept and then challenge me about why I treat my own dreams as less important than everyone else’s and then when the dryads attacked, I couldn’t bear the thought of somethinghappening to you.” My chest heaves, and I drag in another breath, still holding Draven’s stunned gaze. “I have loved you formonthsnow, but I’ve been too much of a stubborn coward to admit it.”

He draws in an unsteady breath, staring at me as if he’s afraid that if he takes his eyes off me for one second, I will disappear and none of this will have happened. “What about the mate bond?”

“Fuck the mate bond! I don’t care that some mystical force has decided that we’re supposed to be together.” Fire burns inside me as I hold his gaze, letting him see that I mean every word of this. “Do you know why?”

“Why?” he breathes, the word barely more than a whisper.

“Because I would have chosen you anyway. There is no world, no universe, no version of reality where I wouldn’t have chosen you. I would always. Choose. You.”

He draws in a shuddering breath, emotions pulsing in his glittering golden eyes.

“I have—” I begin.

But then something breaks free in my chest. Like an explosion of color and light, it shatters through the thick stone walls that I have kept around my heart these past few months.

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