Page 63 of Barbi and the Villain

I bang my fist over my heart. It will not stop.

Nykander comes into sight just as his voice becomes louder. He travels down from the sky, his body floating effortlessly.

He flies, but he has no wings. Just as my heart sings, but it has no strings.

My mouth is dry, my pulse drumming in my ears.

He’s bloody red too. Head to toe, he is covered in blood.

“Barbi!” he calls out as his feet touch the ground in front of me.

His eyes are wide with shock as he regards my red-stained dress. He peruses my body for injuries, circling around me and regarding me with an unusual worry in his gaze.

“What happened to you?” he demands in a rough voice.

His hand circles my arm, pulling me toward him.

“How did you get here? Are you hurt?”

“Let go,” I grit out, pushing him out of my personal space. His mere presence does things to my heart, making that heartburn choke the life out of me.

He doesn’t budge.

“Where are you hurt?” He grinds his teeth, his hands moving up and down my body.

“Let. Go!”

“Stop moving.”

“I am fine. You do not need to fake worry about me, oh you dangerous Dark One.” I roll my eyes. “Go back to terrorizing poor villagers and forget about me,” I mutter drily.

He purses his lips.

“Start talking, Barbi. What happened? How did you get down here?”

“I fell. Seems I am fall-proof, though.” I laugh.

He doesn’t find it funny, his eyes dipping to my chest.

“Eyes here, mister,” I snap, using one finger to push up his jaw—or attempting to since he’s quite a bit taller than me.

“You fell and you are fine. You are not injured…” he muses to himself. “I see.”

“What? What do you see?”

Does he know anything? Was I right and he infected me somehow? Maybe with his saliva when he bit my neck?

Ugh. Only I would have the luck to let a guy’s lips close to me for the first time and get infected.

“It does not matter. Let us go back.” He shakes his head, pulling on my arm and dragging me with him.

I stand my ground.

“I am not going anywhere with you, mister,” I tell him.

He half-turns, raising a brow at me.

“Not too long ago you were begging me to take you with me.”

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