Page 133 of Storm of Secrets and Sorrow

“I do,” she said, lifting her chin in challenge once more.

“I’m an Arius Legacy.”

“And?”

“And…we’re not good people,” he spluttered.

“Because you make sure I get enough food?”

“What?”

“Or are you not a good person because you let me listen to classical music even though you don’t really like it?”

Axel clenched his fists at his sides. “I kill people, Katya, and people—good people—have died because of me,” he said, trying to drive the point home.

“If you think I have not witnessed death, you are wrong,” she said, and he couldn’t believe she wasn’t backing down.

He prowled forward. For each step he took, she took one back until he had her caged against the wall. Still she held his gaze, small flames igniting in her eyes.

Winding one of her curls around his finger, he said, “I didn’t say I witness death, kitten. I said Idothe killing.”

“Do you enjoy it?” she shot back.

“Sometimes.”

That answer had her faltering, and a satisfied smirk curled on his lips until she said, “Someone who wasn’t a good person would have lied about that.”

He couldn’t stop the frustrated growl that crawled up his throat.

“And if you weren’t a good person, you wouldn’t sleep on the sofa and give me the bed,” she went on.

“Maybe I’ll sleep in the bed tonight,” he retorted.

“That’s fine.”

“Fine.”

“I’m not three, Axel,” she said, irritation creeping into her tone now. “I’m not going to sit here and repeat the same word over and over in some ridiculous bid to have the last word.”

Cursing under his breath, he shoved off the wall, and all but stomped to the bed, feeling exactly like the three-year-old she’d just chided him about. He yanked the covers back and slid beneath them before pulling them over himself. A moment later, the rustling of blankets on the other side of the bed had him flipping over.

“What are you doing?” he demanded as she slipped beneath the bedding.

“Going to bed.”

“I said I was sleeping in the bed tonight.”

“You did, but I never said I wasn’t,” she replied. “Turn the light off.”

Not knowing what to say to her, he clicked the bedside lamp off, plunging the room into darkness.

“You did this on purpose,” he said after several minutes, thinking about how thoroughly she’d goaded him into this.

“You were in a foul mood,” she replied. “Sleeping on the sofa would have only made it worse.”

“How do you figure that?”

“No one likes sleeping on a sofa, Axel,” she muttered.

---