Page 101 of A Game of Love and Betrayal

Brynleigh would keep telling herself that until she believed it… or until he was dead beneath her, his lifeless eyes staring into hers one last time.

She refused to allow this to be anything but a physical response.

Those urges she felt? The desire to move towards him and let him hold her? The deepest need to seek refuge in his embrace? Just impulses that she wouldn’t act on.

How hard could it be? Brynleigh would erect a few barriers and set some boundaries, and she’d be good to go.

Yes. Boundaries were a good, solid amendment to her plan.

Hand holding? Fine, she’d have to allow it. Ryker would probably be suspicious of her if she didn’t.

Touching, though? Nope.

Kissing? Not a fucking chance.

This was a game, and these boundaries would help her get her act together. She desperately needed them to work.

Brynleigh forced a smile on her face. “Hi.”

In her mind, she chanted, Boundaries, repeatedly, until it was all she could hear.

Ryker’s lips tilted up, and the stern expression he’d been wearing moments ago melted away. He pushed past the guards and took Brynleigh’s hands in his.

She leaned into his warm touch before she remembered that it went against her newly created boundaries. She straightened her back so fast; she was surprised it didn’t crack.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Ryker’s gaze searched hers, those swirling depths of emotions still present. His fingers swept over the back of her knuckles, and he drew her towards him. “How are you feeling?”

Honestly?

She was fucked.

That was the first thing that came to mind. All the boundaries, all the rules, and all the reinforcements she’d rebuilt dissipated the moment his hand touched hers.

How could something so simple be so incredibly powerful? What was it about this fae that made her entire world turn upside down? She wasn’t sure, but it was dangerous.

If Brynleigh were being honest with Ryker, she’d confess that he confused her. She didn’t understand him at all. He was a powerful fae—proven not only by his rank in the army and the storms he commanded but also by the deference these guards showed him—but he was kind to her. A vampire.

Even though she knew better, what had begun as a kernel of doubt grew each time she interacted with Ryker.

Was there a bigger picture she wasn’t seeing?

There were the facts: a storm hit Chavin. That was indisputable. Brynleigh had been there, seen the water and death and destruction. She’d also seen two shadowy figures, one tall and dark, the other slender and much shorter, standing on the edge of the forest as she floated, dying as her lungs drank in more and more water.

But what if…

Actually, no.

Brynleigh couldn’t do this right now. She stomped on that kernel of doubt, smashing it to smithereens. It was Ryker. Who else could it be? It wasn’t as if the Republic of Balance was overrun by water fae. Very few of them were powerful enough to summon a hurricane like that, especially so far inland.

It. Was. Him.

There was no other option.

Seeing as how she couldn’t confess all that to Ryker, she tilted her head and smiled softly at him. “I’m a little worn out.”

It was true. It must’ve been the emotions. They plagued her, draining her unlike anything else she’d ever experienced. She gathered them up and shoved them down. Like all the others, these would have to wait their turn.

She could unpack them after he was dead.

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