Page 110 of Soul Forge

“Hmm.” His hum was low, amused, the sound vibrating through her bones. “You’d have to catch me first.” Somehow, he made that simple sentence sound indecent, and Elda’s heart flipped in her chest.

“I could,” she snapped, grasping at her anger before it could float away. “I’m stronger now. Faster.”

His grin was feline, hungry, and it almost made her knees fold beneath her. “I know.” He came closer again, just enough to make her shiver. “Not fast enough, though. Besides, you don’t have it in you to stab me.”

“I do if you keep treating me like an object,” she argued. “I’m tired of being gawked at. I’m more than my body, and you shouldn’t be using me as a weapon to goad Sypher.” The fire in her raged, equal parts fury and lust. “Especiallywhen you don’t have the balls to tell me any of the disgusting things you’re telling Sypher.”

“Disgusting?” he echoed, and the jaws of his trap snapped closed around her. Another smile, this one feral, dangerous enough to make her falter. She backed up a step, giving up the precious ground she’d been so reluctant to sacrifice a moment ago. He followed immediately. “I don’t think disgusting is the word you really mean.”

“Degrading then,” she shot back. “Immodest. Immoral.”

His laugh was soft. “You don’t mean those either.” Another step lost, and another. He stayed in her space, and she wondered if he knew that her retreat was the only thing stopping her from giving in to the urge to reach out and lay her hand on his chest.

“Then what do you think I mean?” Her voice wavered, giving away the nerves she tried so hard to hide, and he chuckled again. Her back touched the wall, and his hands caged her in, one on either side of her head. Was he going to kiss her? Would she stop him if he did?

“I don’t think, Iknow.” His fingertips brushed the pulse fluttering in her throat, sparks shooting through her at the contact. “It’s in your eyes. It’s in every little tremble when I get close.” His lips brushed the shell of her ear. “You meanfun.”

“I most certainly donotmean fun,” she muttered, but his breath against her neck took the bite out of the words. It was so difficult to concentrate with him so close.

“That’s a lie,” he murmured.

Another thrill that she fought to squash rippled through her, and her fury surged with it. Damn him.Damnhim for shaking her resolve, for forcing her to confront things she wasn’t ready to think about. And damn him again for making her knees weak every time he opened his mouth.

She flattened her palms against his chest and pushed, not expecting him to budge an inch. To her surprise, he took a step back, giving her enough room to breathe. The fog in her mind cleared, some of the conviction returning to her voice.

“I think you’re being a pig, Vel. If you don’t stop using me to get at Sypher, I’ll make you stop,” she warned.

“Oh? That sounds like a challenge.” His grin was enough to send heat racing down her spine. “I like a challenge.”

“Stop using me as a weapon,” she demanded. Something between them shifted, the heat simmering between them dimming.

“Why?” He was in her space again, backing her up against the wall once more. The smile faded, his face frighteningly blank all of a sudden. “Why should I stop? The only time I’ve been freed before now is tofight.” The last word came out in a hiss, and fear cooled the fire in her veins.

Standing before her was the creature Sypher had warned her about, the one with the potential to kill her and destroy her kingdom. He was not the Vel that had stayed with her when shewas under the thrall. He was the Vel that attacked her in the villa corridor, the wary beast that bit when threatened.

“Century after century, locked in a cage,” he murmured, a storm raging in the soft utterance. “Only opening the door tobleedfor someone, and then I’m thrown away again. Why should I stop using you as a weapon when that’s all anyone has ever done to me?”

Her next sentence, she knew, would decide whether she lived. She could feel the power radiating from him, washing over her in waves potent enough to make her dizzy. His eyes were cold and dark, devoid of the spark that had been there just moments before. Her words would decide if this broken creature snapped her neck there and then.

Because hewasbroken. Irreversibly so. He claimed he didn’t hurt like Sypher, but she’d heard it in his voice even when his face was wiped clean of emotion. So much anger and pain and fear were trapped within him. He lashed out because that was what everyone expected of him, the monster hiding beneath Sypher’s skin.

“Because I swore I would never hurt you like the others did,” she replied softly, her answer barely above a whisper. “The oath was for both of you, not just him. You are only a weapon if youchooseto be, Vel.”

His hands caged her again, trapping her between the stone and his dark, dark eyes. Lightning passed between them, raising goosebumps down her arms. There was a furrow between his brows like he wasn’t sure what to say to her. A battle raged in him, one she could see from the outside but had no hope of understanding.

Until he leaned in to kiss her. Her movement, her breath, even herpulseseemed to freeze with his lips mere centimetres away from hers. Her eyes fluttered closed, though she wasn’t sure ifit was to shut out what was happening or to keep herself from stopping him. That one tense moment stretched on for an age.

At the sound of his soft chuckle, her eyes opened again. The glint had returned to the abyss of his gaze, the teasing smile lifting his cheeks once more. Relief mixed with bitter disappointment in a confusing cocktail.

“I knew you wanted it,” he chuckled.

“You’re wrong,” she snapped, shame and embarrassment coursing through her. Had he been playing a joke on her the whole time? Had he faked the temper just to rattle her?

“I’m not. You want me.”

“I willneverwant you,” Elda argued. “I won’t beg you, I won’t chase you, and I won’t pander to your mocking anymore.” Heat was creeping up her neck, making its way towards her cheeks.

Vel gripped her chin, moving so close that his chest touched hers. His hand meant she was forced to look at him, though his grip wasn’t painful. “Iwantyou.” The statement was blunt enough to send her thoughts off-kilter, the room swaying for a moment. The demon soul ran a gloved thumb over her lower lip. “But I’m good at waiting. Youwillbeg me, Varro. When you can’t take it anymore, when you’re burning from the inside, you’ll beg. And when you do…” He leaned closer still, planting a soft kiss right below her earlobe. “…I’ll deliver.”

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