Page 56 of Too Dangerous To Die

“I didn’t want—” He breaks off, running a hand over his face. “I couldn’t stop.”

“No,” I say, my voice soft but lethal. “You didn’ttryto stop.”

That hits. His jaw ticks. “You think I wanted to hurt you?”

“I think you needed me. And you let that need take everything.”

Silence stretches between us, thick and suffocating.

“I don’t regret it,” I say, just to see what he’ll do.

His head snaps up, eyes blazing. “You should.”

I walk toward him slowly, the stone cold under my feet, shards of broken magic still humming in the air. “Doyouregret it?”

His silence says everything.

I crouch in front of him, searching his face for something—remorse, longing, hate. I’m not sure what I want to find.

“You fed on me, Rhaegar. Not just magic. Youdevoured.”

“I know.”

“You said I was yours.” I tilt my head. “Was that a vow or a warning?”

He leans forward until our foreheads almost touch. His breath brushes my lips. “It was both.”

The honesty of it stings more than any lie.

I want to hit him. I want to kiss him again. I want to scream and demand he undo whatever he’s done to me—but the truth is, it’s already too late. I can feel him inside me, magic humming where it never lived before. A tether wrapped tight around my soul, pulsing with heat and need.

“You changed me,” I whisper.

He nods once, grim. “You changed me first.”

I want to laugh. I want to cry. Instead, I sit down beside him on the floor, our shoulders brushing.

“Tell me the truth,” I say quietly. “How much did you take?”

He exhales slowly. “Enough that I don’t think I’ll turn to stone again. Even if you leave.”

I go still.

The bond was what kept him alive. The constant need for my presence. The endless drain. And now?

“You’re… free of me?”

He turns his head toward me, something unreadable in his expression. “No. I’mfullof you.”

My throat tightens. I stare at the cracked wall across the room, heart pounding.

“So what happens now?”

“I don’t know.” He leans back, resting his head against the stone. “I’ve never been this. I’ve neverhadthis.”

We sit in silence for a long time.

When I finally speak, my voice is tired, but sure. “We can’t keep doing this. If you take from me again like that…”

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