Page 4 of Fire Kissed
Torben’s messy, long hair appears just before his brooding gaze meets mine.
“Gala’s canceled,” he grunts.
My brows lift high.
“I was so looking forward to this one too,” I mumble. “I thought a prince or some asshole like you might show up to rescue me finally.”
He rolls his eyes hard before sliding his big palm down his face slowly. Then his forearms meet his knees, his hands lazily hanging as he continues to hunch down at my level but look off into the short distance of the room. There’s a darkness in the depths of his green eyes.
Something that’s always been there, but I’ve never ventured into to ask...
Or what if it’s something else? Something worse than his normal brooding. What if something bad happened?
“Is my mother okay?” I ask carefully, trying hard to cling to that unyielding confidence I’ve built up, but ultimately failing.
His attention flicks back to me with confusion clouding his gaze. “Yeah. She’s fine.” A line creases his brow. Still, he gives nothing away.
“Can I see her?” I try once more.
“No,” he answers flatly.
My stomach knots, and I’m left to imagine what kind of terrible thing has happened to make him act more tormented than usual.
“Aric and Latham—”
Booming aggression cuts me off.
“They’re fine. Everyone is fine. As fucking fine as you can be here.” He smooths his beard with too much force, and I know when he’s about to storm away.
I just don’t know why I care enough to react. My hand rushes out. I catch his between the chilled metal bars before he can shove away from my little prison. The line between his eyebrows softens but doesn’t fully fade.
“What is it? Tell me.Please.” My heart pounds in my ears. A thousand different deadly scenarios assault my mind. What isn’t he telling me?
His lips part. A sound of pained hesitation slips between us.
“It—it’s our anniversary.”
My head rears back as my mouth falls open.
“What?” I try to start again, but it takes several attempts at opening and closing my mouth like a flopping fish dying on a bank before more words fall out. “Your anniversary. Your and Hela’s ann-i-ver-sary!That’swhat you have me worried over?” A biting laughter shudders out of me, and I just cannot fucking believe this man.
My fingers release his hand like he might infect me with his audacity.
“Tell her husband, the Creepy Elfie King, I saidhi, by the way. And what is with that? He fucks my mom, and she you, and everyone fucks me in the end?”
“I—”
“No. No. Actually, I don’t care.” I flop back down in my blanket fort and kick my leg back up. “Turn out the light when you go.”
“Watch your tone,” he warns on a rumbling growl. “And—and don’t let Mordon hear you say the wordElfie, for god’s sakes.”
“Ha!’ I urgingly mock.
“I said watch your tone,” he hisses.
At that, my head tips up just slightly so I can better glare at the asshole peering through my bars.
“Or what, Torben?” I pause to give my slamming thoughts time to catch up with my mouth. “You’ll show me that you’re truly just like them? Newsflash. You already fucking are!”
