Page 90 of Claimed In Darkness

"As if you don’t recognize me."

I can’t speak.

Can’t fucking think.

She is in front of me, standing on solid ground, breathing, speaking.

And I feel?—

Nothing.

No relief.

No joy.

Just cold.

Just the nagging, quiet whisper of something wrong.

Something in the back of my skull screaming that this isn’t real, that this is a trick, that this is a trap.

But I don’t care. Deep down, all that matters is she’s here.

I feel Naira before I see her.

Feel the way her body stiffens beside me, feel the way her breath catches, feel the implications of her silence pressing against my nape.

She is not stupid.

She sees what’s happening.

She’s witnessing the way Aereth looks at me.

She notices the way I haven’t moved.

And I know exactly what she’s thinking.

She’s not the first.

I’ve done this before with another woman.

With someone who isn’t her.

Naira says nothing.

And I feel the slow, creeping distance already settling in.

The way she is shutting me out before I can even decide what the fuck this means.

I feel the slow, sickening pull of something I don’t recognize.

Guilt.

I refused to look at her, Becausef I do, I won’t be able to stop her from seeing the truth.

That I don’t know what this means.

That I don’t understand who I am supposed to want anymore.

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