“Oh, no.” He snorts as he stalks across the room. No limp stalls his gait from the dagger lodged into his leg just days before. He stops at his bed, sheets rumpled in a tangled mess. He turns his back to me as he adjusts his belt. “I’m being courteous in refraining from telling you what I’m really thinking.”
I don’t doubt it. And the fact that he thinks he can talk to me as such is infuriating. The sheer boldness of his comments drive me into a frenzied irritation.
The words slip off my tongue before I can stop them. “You’re an ass.”
He lifts his head, glancing over his shoulder at me with a glimmer of amusement sparking his eyes. “I know.”
Glaring hard enough it might sear his skin, I hold out the vial in his direction. “Are you going to take this or not?”
His laugh shakes his shoulders. But the humor doesn’t soften his features.
“What’s so funny?” I hiss.
“It’s just that...” He turns to face me, tying the closure of his tunic.
I’d guess he might have just woken up.
His voice dips to a menacingly slick whisper, “I can’t tell if you want to fight me or fuck me.”
Pompous fucking asshole.I can’t contain myself. I fling the fucking vial straight at him. Adamant it’ll clear whatever delusion he has on what my intentions and fantasies are.
He catches the vial before it can smash into his nose. Those forest green eyes darken as he lowers his head, clenching his fist closed. A sickening crunch splits the silence between us, and he opens his hand, releasing splinters of glass and drops of liquid to the floor.
“Tell Marge I said thank you,” he growls.
Backpedaling, I immediately regret my rash decision to throw the vial at him. My back bumps up against the wall, my eyes trained on him as he sweeps toward me. I pat my hand behind me for the door handle, finding it quickly and unlatching the door.
“What’s wrong?” His head tilts to the side. Regarding me like a predator might its prey before it makes the killing blow. “Do I scare you?”
“No,” I lie.
Another laugh rumbles in his chest. He closes the distance between us and pounds his fist above my head against the door, shutting it. A muscle in his jaw twinges as his green eyes lazily trace circles around my face. His calm violence instills a cold terror inside of me. It scares me more than it would have if he exploded. His body inches closer to mine, his breath stirring the hair near my forehead.
“Gods, I love to watch you squirm,” he admits on a breath. His eyes are a combination of fathomless green and a soulful blue. Stubble shadows his sharp jawline.
My skin breaks out in tingles. “You don’t scare me,” I say again, hoping my voice doesn’t tremble.
His gaze skims down my neck and arms, his lips perking up in a half-sided smile.
He sees my goosebumps.
“Are you sure you aren’t scared of me?” he whispers, his hand lifting to nearly brush my cheek.
I slap his hand down.
A smug grin pulls at his lips. He snickers as he turns away. “You will be, when I’m done with you.”
I slip back out of his room, slamming the door closed between us. My heart drums in my chest until I return to the healer’s quadrant.
Earlier at the dinner table, I stared at Archie as he rambled on, but my thoughts were entirely focused on Cole. Cole sat next to me, his body turned toward mine, and his lingering gaze challenged every sense of my self-composure. Before I blushed, I nudged Cole’s boot with mine in warning. Finally, he shook himself out of his daze.
Maybe I wasn’t going to be the one to give us away.
Carlisle swept Cole off shortly after. Archie and I bonded over discussions of food and our upbringing in poor towns. Water dragons destroyed his family’s ships out in Helmbrook. When his brothers came of age, they were all sent off to the military. Yet, the way he spoke about the military, his eyes sparkling in wonder…
In that moment, my face fell. His sheer enthusiasm and confidence closely resembled that of my brother, hitting me with a bittersweet pang.
We both agreed we didn’t like fish and were relieved tonight’s dinner was chicken. If it were true that you are what you eat, I surely would have sprouted fins ten years ago.