Page 50 of Monster's Pretty Bride

"And yet, here we are."

The words are a challenge, a battle she wants me to step into.

I do.

In one movement, I close the space between us, my fingers wrapping around her wrist before she moves away completely.

Her pulse hammers beneath my touch.

"Say it, then," I murmur, voice low, dangerous. "Say you don't want me dead."

The room stills.

Even the Purna women are silent now.

Eryss stares up at me, unflinching, her lips parting just slightly.

I feel the war in her bones, the fight between what she was sent to do and what she actually wants.

It should be simple.

It should be instinct.

But it isn’t.

Her hesitation is enough.

More than enough.

I release her, my fingers slow to let go.

I don’t miss the way her breath catches, how her skin flushes in the low light, how her pupils dilate.

She hates this.

Hates that her body betrays her the same way mine does.

"You're wounded," Amelia finally speaks, her voice steady but not unkind. "Let us help you."

I snarl immediately.

"You won't touch me."

Amelia lifts a brow, unimpressed. "You're bleeding."

"So?"

Eryss steps back, breathing out roughly, her expression tense. "Just let them help you."

I glare at her, muscles coiled tight. “I don’t need their magic.”

She tilts her chin up, defiant. “Then bleed out.”

I step closer, forcing her back against the tip of the wooden table behind her, my body towering over hers. "Would that please you, little bride?"

Her chest rises sharply, silver eyes burning.

"Not as much as seeing you humbled."

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