Page 69 of Grim and Oro
Then, a man offers his hand in invitation.
I resist the urge to use the nearest shadow to cut it clean off.
The hearteater meets my gaze. I narrow my eyes,daring, justdaringher to say yes.
She smiles at me. Then, at the man. She accepts, placing her hand in his.
I barely leash the urge to turn the entire room to ash.
My knuckles whiten as I grip my throne with iron fists while watching her dance with someone else.
It should be me.Ishould have asked her.
Instead, I’m here, imagining all the ways I’m going to kill that man.
He’s dead.
His hand grips her waist, and yes, I will be cutting it off. He smiles and his teeth flash. I will be yanking those out, one by one, taking great satisfaction in mutilating his face.
How dare he touch her.
How dare she allow it.
She turns, holding my gaze as she dances, her body pressed against his, and I wonder if she realizes she has sealed this man’s fate.
I wonder if she knows I’ve never been jealous in my life until now. No one has ever had anything I’ve wanted until now.
I’ve never wanted anything, I realize. Not really.
Not until her.
There’s no getting rid of it. I’ve tried. This want, this desire for her, is rooted into my very soul.
Just when I think the pain in my chest can’t get any worse, the man draws her away. Together they slip through the crowded ballroom toward the hall beyond.
I reach for her emotions from across the room; I feel around for fear or hesitancy.
But I don’t feel either. Quite the opposite.
Shewantsto go with him. Shewantshim to touch her.
My regret burns through me like nothing I’ve felt in ages.
It should be me. I should have invited her to the ball. I should have given her a room of dresses to choose from. I should be leading her to the hall, ready to offer her everything she wants.
Because then she might have wanted me.
This is her choice. I must respect it, as hard as it is. I resolve myself to sit with my pain, until I catch a glimpse of her face just as she leaves the room.
Her cheeks are red. Redder than I’ve ever seen them.
In an instant, I recall her accepting a goblet the man offered. It all makes sense. I should have suspected it—
Fury coils in my bones. I’m in the hallway in seconds. I find her instantly, pressed against the wall, the man’s mouth on her neck, his hand traveling down her stomach.
Her emotions. They hit me at once, as always.
And she feels ... nothing. Nothing like when she’s with me.
