Page 31 of A Kiss From Death
Why do I let this man have so much power over me? I truly can’t wrap my brain around it, but my heart is beating to a rhythm for which I have no roadmap, possessed by this beast in disguise.
“What are you doing here?” I say coolly, though it’s the opposite of how I’m feeling. I push off the door with more confidence than I feel, steeling my face in boredom as I approach Hade. He has the audacity to sit perched on the edge ofmybed like he owns the place.
“I came to check on you.”
Those words should hold endearment, but the way he says them makes it sound more a mundane task to check off his list for the day.
“I am none of your concern anymore, Cardinal,” I say in a clipped tone, not giving away any of my emotions.
He’s up in an instant, but he stops himself at the last second. “You’ve been my concern since the moment I tore you from thathovel.” His chest heaves with deep breaths, like he’s trying to control himself.
“That’s news to me,” I seethe. “I am of no one’s concern, least of all yours.” I plant my hands on my hips, eyeing him while my pulse hammers in my throat.
He ignores me completely, all too consumed with staring at my hair. His brows pinch. “You’re covered in blood.”
“No shit, captain obvious.” I roll my eyes, which only makes his temper flare.
“I meant you’rebleeding,” he growls. “I never saw Gavis land a blow to you the entire time you were fighting, so please enlighten me why I’m watching fresh blood drip from you? Did it happen before or after the fight?”
He looks positively frightening right now, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why he gives a damn, especially when he disappeared earlier faster than it takes Aeron to get a hard on thinking about himself.
“You were gone by the time I ended the fight with Aeron, so how do you know this isn’t from him?” I’m goading him, nosey as always as to why he walked out earlier.
You just can’t help yourself can you, Nyxi?
He takes a slow step towards me. “I saw just fine how you blinded him with sand and then jumped on him like the dangerous little creature I’ve come to know.” Another step. “How you were straddling his waist with your chest pressed down on him, arm pressed against his throat, cutting off his air.” Taking another step, he comes face to face with me. I can feel his warm breath fan across my lips like both a warning and a caress. “I also saw his blood-smeared, shit eating grin and love sick eyes beaming up at you as you were practically glued to his body.”
I draw in a labored breath and blink at him in shock. Did he really watch the whole thing? And why does he sound…angry?
Or is he jealous?
He takes one last step, closing the distance between us. My heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest and fuse itself to his.
The feeling of having the mighty Cardinal’s undivided attention is mind-numbing, like taking the strongest drug Visionary Sector could offer. It’s dizzying and all-consuming. It’s too much, but at the same time, it’s not enough at all. Now that I’ve gotten the smallest taste, I fear I may become an addict.
He slowly reaches up with gentle fingers and tucks one of my rouge curls that slipped from my braid behind my ear, exposing my bleeding cut. “Now, I won’t ask you again.” He turns my head to get a better look at the oozing cut and runs the back of his knuckles down the side of my jaw. “Who. Did. This. To. You?” he grits out.
I’m frozen. My heart rate picks up like the closing ballad of a symphony, but at the same time, I can’t seem to take a full breath.
This moment is intoxicating.
No, he’sintoxicating.
“Nyxi,” he whispers, but there’s an edge to his voice, a warning and a plea.
There he goes, using my full name again, and it’s myundoing. I’ll tell him anything he wants as long as he keeps saying my name like his life depends on it, like I’m the sole reason his heart still beats.
“J-jade,” I stutter out. “She shot me with an arrow…or she tried to, but she missed. I think she just wanted to scare me. You know, rile me up before the game begins and all.” I take a deep breath, trying to steady my racing heart, but it’s a lost cause. “Really, it’s nothing. Plus, I kind of stabbed the arrow through her boot in return, so the playing field is even.” My breathing picks up again as I drag my eyes back up to meet his intense gaze.
“I can hear the unnatural flutter of your heart all the way from here, Nightmare. It doesn’t seem like it was nothing.”
I gulp, blinking back at him, reduced to only knowing how to keep my body standing and nothing beyond that. I startle when he tears off the bottom part of his shirt and lifts it to gently dab the blood still angrily pouring from my ear.
A breath escapes me. “My racing heart has nothing to do with Jade.”
Empress, did I just say that out loud?
“Is that so?” He slowly backs me up while applying pressure to my ear until the backs of my knees hit the edge of the bed. “Sit. Let me tend to your wound.”
