Page 39 of Tethered In Blood

Her breath hitched.

“You ran straight to it,” I continued, my words a slow, deliberate blade. “You were faster than me. And you didn’t hesitate before cutting your hand to test it.”

When my words struck, her throat bobbed. Her pulse fluttered at the base of her neck, and Saints help me, I longed to feel it beneath my teeth. Quinn rolled her eyes, but a flicker of her pulse, a quick jump beneath her skin, betrayed her. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Her voice dripped with mockery. “Should I have waited for you to scowl at it first, Sir Knight?”

My cheek twitched. “You put it there, didn’t you?”

She let out a laugh of disbelief. “Are you serious?”

The accusation thickened the atmosphere between us, making the space suffocating. Her eyes searched my face. She knew I wasn’t just suspicious. I was pushing her too far. Testing her. Watching for the slightest crack.

Her lips parted with a shallow breath as her expression shifted. Her brow arched, and her smirk deepened. “You think I orchestrated an entire curse?” Her voice dropped lower, rich with mock amusement. “For what? To frolic in the woods with you?”

The tension inside me frayed, unraveled, and became dangerous.

I was still hard, still aching from the chase and how she moved and ran as if made to be pursued. And with her wrists still locked in my grip, her body pinned against mine, I felt her. The heat of her. The shape of her pressing into me.

My control was tenuous.

I let the silence stretch between us as I absorbed the way her pulse thrummed beneath my fingers. We locked eyes, and I could taste the challenge in the air. “No,” I admitted, my voice rougher. “But I know you’re hiding more than you’re saying.”

Quinn’s smirk was a blade sliding from its sheath. “Funny,” she murmured, “I was about to say the same about you.”

My eyes burned with the warning that flickered in my gaze. I should have intimidated her. She should have shrank back, swallowed her words, and looked away. But her chin tipped up, daring me to push harder.

Audaçi—o hi adaneth.

The audacity of this woman.

My grip tightened before I forced myself to release her. The instant my fingers left her skin, she pushed off the tree, shot me a glare, and then turned to stalk away.

Damn her.

I huffed a harsh breath, raking a hand through my hair. I had to find answers, which meant I needed to read her notes, search for clues that indicated she had been hiding something, and discover what the hells had concealed it.

Once there was ample space between us, I headed toward the village. By the time I returned, the streets were empty. The villagers still crowded the tavern, exhaustion weighing on the night in a thick shroud.

Low in the town square, a fire’s embers crackled quietly.

Quinn hefted an armful of logs toward the pit. The orange glow painted flickering shadows across her face. Soot streaked her cheeks, her skin glistened with sweat, and wisps of dark red hair curled at her temples. She grunted as she dropped the logs into place, stepping back to brush her hands against the rough fabric of her apron.

An unfamiliar tightness coiled in my chest.

Regret?

I scoffed inwardly.No.

Neryth strained against the rope at the well beside her. His muscles flexed as his hooves scraped against the stone, pawing for balance. His ears flicked toward her, and his nostrils flared as if he sensed a disturbance I hadn’t yet deciphered.

Pushing forward, I shouldered through the inn’s door. The heavy wooden slab thudded shut behind me, sealing out the night. I strode toward the table, spun the chair around, and dropped into it, straddling the worn wood. Quinn’s notes lay scattered across the surface. With every page, every scribbled formula, and every hastily drawn rune, the weight in my stomach sank lower.

She had unraveled it.

Every part.

My teeth ground together as another page turned, the parchment rasping under my fingers. She hadn’t just been guessing; she had proof and discovered connections I hadn’t even considered. She was right.

A curse escaped my lips as the book slammed shut. My fingers drummed against the leather cover of her journal. My thoughts spiraled back through every missed clue and overlooked sign.

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