Page 103 of Obsession

I pause again. The last time I cared for someone this way, I got burned, bad. Embracing love is the riskiest thing a person can do, and I don’t know if I should invite that into my life.

But the question isn’t whether I want love; it’s whether I want his love. And… Do I?

Do I want to put that word to what Aris and I share?

We fit like we were made for each other. He cares about me; he listens to me. He adores me. And I adore him. I find myself thinking of him and smiling to myself like I’ve remembered a joke. His eyes make me soft. His touch makes me melt.

But it wasn’t always this way. He was someone else once. A very different someone else.

It’s as I’m mulling over this, struggling to find a way to respond, that the moment is shattered. That everything is shattered.

A hand—large and unfamiliar—grabs me by the back of the neck and pulls me away. By the time my attacker drags me a few meters off, Aris is on his feet and starting toward us with wrath that would terrify me if aimed my way.

“Come any closer, and she is dead.”

Aris halts immediately. I still as well, but it isn’t the message that makes me tense; it’s the voice conveying it.

Jaegen.

Suddenly, without looking back, the identity of my attacker is obvious—the way he is so tall that I’ve been pulled to the tips of my toes, the firm, muscular body I’m pressed against. The slick heat of his skin.

“Let me go,” I hiss, only to go stiller when Jaegen’s hand covers my throat, reminding me who, exactly, is in charge.

He isn’t even applying pressure, but I already feel like I’m choking. Maybe it’s panic, or maybe he is just that strong and his hand is just that heavy.

I spiral, knowing how easily he could kill me. There have been moments where I’ve clung to life and moments where I’ve stared over the edge of a bell tower, wanting nothing more than to tumble to the cobblestone below. I’ve been plagued with nightmares and lived a dream life on my own island.

Now, I know with certainty that I want to live.

I want to touch Aris again. To swim. To see the rest of the island. I want to do those things. Even if I never have a restful night’s sleep again. Even if.

Aris’ eyes zero in on Jaegen’s hold on me, his jaw feathering. “What is this?” he demands. In the colorful firelight, he is half-illuminated and looks more shadow than person. Though Jaegen is the one with a hand on my throat, I am unnerved by Aris—his face is just that vicious. “Why are you here?”

“Why do you think?” asks Jaegen, my scalp burning as he lifts me higher, closer to his mouth. My feet shake from the weight of my body put entirely on my toes.

"I wonder…” I hear a smile in his voice. “Shall I melt the skin from her bones, or send her more dreams—until she loses her mind entirely?"

The nightmares.

It was him?

I try to crane my neck to look at Jaegen, but his grip is unrelenting and I can’t tell if the tears in my eyes are from rage or pain. I should’ve expected a response—a punishment—to us running away, but I still feel betrayed.

I helped him. I gave him what he wanted. Even when he degraded me and choked me. Even when he made my nose bleed and stopped my heart, I helped him! And so, yes, I didn’t want to stay locked in a house forever. Yes, I disobeyed him—so what? Aris hasn’t acted against him, and neither have I. We kept to ourselves. We’ve hurt no one.

And still, he tortured me.

A terrible thought occurs to me: Has he been sending these dreams from the beginning—from when we were just forming our bargain?

Why? To spin webs? To watch the ant on the hill?

The shock nearly undoes me. Did he know where Aris and I have been this whole time? Has he been watching, listening?

“I will destroy you,” says Aris, simply.

Once more, a smile in Jaegen’s voice: “Try.”

Aris does not like that.

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