Page 26 of The Other Side of the Mirror

Stung by his withdrawal, I nodded, unable to speak from the tumult of emotion tearing through me. Lust, mortification, and longing all raged inside me…and anger. Resentment at this so-called destiny I had no part in choosing but was now keeping me from what I wanted.WhoI wanted. Even as it scared me how easily he had breached my defenses.

But if he didn’t want this…didn’t want me…

I pointedly avoided looking at Bash as I waded to shore. Brushing the water from my body, I got dressed methodically, pulling on my clothes as quickly as I could against my damp skin. I tried not to look at him, but he was dressed now too, and heading toward me, leaves rustling with each heavy step.

I couldn’t account for the ripple of pain in my chest as those stormy eyes met mine. For a brief moment, he looked at me and I could almost read everything he wouldn’t let himself say behind his eyes.

“Eva…” he started roughly. “It’s not that I?—”

But I couldn’t listen to the rest. I knew why he stopped. And I definitely didn’t want to talk about why he pushed me away right now. Or ever.

Even though he kissed me first.

“No, you’re right,” I said stiffly, refusing to meet his gaze. “This was a mistake.”

Bash started to move toward me, then stopped, his expression utterly miserable for a split second before he regained his composure.

“The others will be waiting for us.”

He hesitated for a moment before he turned away, striding down the path back to camp. I followed a few steps behind.

He didn’t look back.

Chapter12

Bash

This was a mistake.

Her rejection wouldn’t stop replaying in my head, even though I was the one to push her away. Just as I couldn’t get rid of the image of her crestfallen face, the embarrassed flush of her cheeks.

I hadn’t been able to look at her the whole tense walk back to camp, her apparent regret a knife in my heart. It warred with the image of her smile—the way it had washed over me like a splash of sunshine, warm and bright and dazzling. It was the first time Eva had smiled at me like that, so carefree and joyful that even the memory of it made my heart stutter.

The smooth curve of her waist lingered on my palms, and I flexed my fingers at the residual feeling of that forbidden touch. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from tasting her lips, just once. Had been gripped by a strange sense of urgency, jealousy of the prince who was waiting for her, and a desire so adamant it had shredded through my self-control. The second she had stepped into that lake, my resolve not to join her had crumbled in a way that had entirely overwhelmed my sense of duty.

I sucked in a breath at the memory of her walking into the water—the moment now burned into my brain, her perfectly rounded ass jiggling with each step. And when she had splashed me, giving me that brilliant smile, those gold-flecked eyes had lit up like twin stars.

And I couldn’t help my response when I had felt her naked body against mine, the tips of her generous breasts hardening against my chest. I knew she had felt my need when I saw the hunger in her eyes, the way her lips had parted slightly, begging me to kiss them.

And gods, I had needed to…had needed to claim her mouth, to bite her lip like she had just done to herself. I had barely managed to stop myself from claiming the rest of her just as thoroughly when she kissed me back like she belonged to me.

Then I had forced myself to push her away. Watched as she had stilled in front of me—hurt blooming in her hazel eyes, an errant lock of wet hair stuck to her cheek. It had taken all my self-control not to brush it away and show her exactly how much I wanted her.

She’s not yours to claim.

I kicked a loose stone, watching it spin off into the shadows. Cursing myself for letting down that wall last night that I was now desperately trying to stack back up. For allowing her in. Eva had ferreted out my deepest truths without even trying, like we had been compelled to trade our darkest moments, our greatest secrets, with each whispered word.

Yet she remained an enigma I couldn’t help but want to figure out. Closed-off yet bold, confident yet skittish, as though always waiting for the other shoe to drop. No doubt due to a lingering fear after losing her family the way she had. A pain I knew only too well.

Suddenly, all I could see were my father’s sightless eyes, staring through me after his life had been violently ripped from him. My mother wasting away without him—my pleas not enough to keep her with us, even when my sister and I needed her most. I hadn’t been enough to save either of them. And now Eva was being targeted by the False King who had essentially killed them both.

I took a deep breath as that old pain resurfaced, and an image of Eva breathing through her own fears flooded through my mind despite myself.

It was best that she stayed away from me. Best that I stayed away from her.

I slammed my fist into the nearest tree, wincing at the contact. Riding with her tense form in front of me this afternoon had been especially agonizing after our return from the lake. Every time the sway of the horse rocked us back together, her behind had wriggled against me as she tried to maintain some distance between us. I had desperately tried to remind myself of all the reasons she couldn’t be mine with every unbearable step. Though it had gotten harder and harder to remember them with her scent in my nose, the feeling of her between my legs, and my growing lust so distracting that it had nearly kept me from finding a place to camp for the night.

But it was undeniably more than just desire—in fact, it would have been easier had it simply been that. Being with Eva brought an ache to my chest that I couldn’t entirely explain away. As soon as we reached a spot to set up for the night, I had gone to seek solace in the forest, needing that distance from her to attempt to sort out the mess of emotion trying to pull me apart.

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