Page 81 of Bound
My hands fist. “I’m sorry. For earlier.” It’s not what I came to tell her, but I have to say it.
Her vibrant eyes appraise me, the stubborn tilt of her chin defiant. Angry. “I was only trying to help.”
“I know,” I say, as gentle as I can. But gods above, I don’t want to be gentle. I want to rip the robe from her and lift the hem of that silly gown. I want to lay her out on the grass and fill her body over and over until I can erase the phantom blood on my hands. The life I couldn’t save.
Turning to hide how much my body wants her, I scan the space we are in. “You were a help, Amoret. And I reacted poorly. But, I was—”
“Disgusted?”
The word leaves me staring at her. “What? No.”
She walks past me back toward her room. “I get it, Gage. My magick is unsavory. And for you to come to with me—”
I lunge and grab her arm, halting her a foot from the doorway. “Amoret, your magick is not wrong. It’s not evil or disgusting. You did what no one else could have.” The reality of that leaves my next words breathless. “You tamed the fire.”
“I swallowed it, Gage. It’s not the same thing.”
My thumb glides over the smooth skin of her wrist. “You kept me from torching Lock Lake. Or the men and women I consider to be my family.” I tug a little, trying to get her to look at me. “I can never repay you for that. And yelling at you was a piss-poor way to start.”
Her head turns at that. “Being among humans has fouled your language.”
The corner of my lips curve. “To be fair, I had horrid teachers.”
She sighs and faces me fully. “If you can forgive me my slight, then I have no reason to be angry with you.” Her head lifts. “But I am sorry if I overstepped. I understand that such things are not done. It was a mistake I won’t make again.” She pulls from my hold.
“Amoret—”
“If you would leave, it’s late and I am rather tired.” Her words are like a lance through my chest.
“Amoret, I—”
“Please, Gage.” She turns away, but not before her pretty face twists in something like pain. The slim line of her shoulders rises and falls on a shaky exhale. “Go.”
I stare at her back. At the golden waterfall of her hair.
If I leave, that’s it. She won’t risk being alone with me again. Not like this. Unguarded. Raw.
I don’t know how I know, but something between us has changed. Shifted.
And may the gods help me, but I want this version of her more than any of the others. This realness. Not the superiority of the Fae royal. The innocent waif. Or the angry vixen. But this ... This woman.
I straighten my shoulders. “No.”
She stiffens.
“I won’t leave, Amoret. You’re not in the Sith anymore. This is Lock Lake, and captain or not, I outrank you.”
The flash of her eyes predicates her angry whirl. “Then I will scream until Ivo removes you from my chambers.” But the flush of her skin is more than just anger.
I take a step closer and she retreats. The flush deepens. Under the thin silk, her chest heaves with her speeding heart. I don’t need vamp hearing to know it. The thrum of her pulse is visible in the slim line of her throat.
“Are you afraid of me, Amoret?” I ask.
She clenches the neck of her robe in her fist. “No.”
“Then why are you running?”
She climbs through the doorway and slips into the warm dark of her room. I follow.
