Page 80 of Elven Prince

He glanced at his own fist still pressed into the plaster, and his expression morphed instantly. The snarl disappeared beneath wide-eyed disbelief, humiliation, shame—the much more aware version of him appalled by the beast his anger and desperation had unleashed.

He instantly lowered his arm before stepping away to give her space.

When Rebecca’s breath caught in her throat at the sharp agony jolting through her chest and down her arms, she saw the same pain flicker across his face in a fierce grimace before he covered it up again.

Then the shifter sighed and ran a hand through his hair. When he spoke next, his gaze had dropped to the floor between them. “Tell me. Please.”

It seemed the worst of the spell their unexplained connection had woven over them now came to an end. Or at least it had weakened enough to release them from its grasp.

Tell him?

That wasn’t just something she could deliver on command, like a cheap trick at a birthday party.

With her breath slowing again, though her pulse still roared in her ears and threatened to deafen her to everything else, Rebecca glanced around her office. “Do you think maybe you should take a seat first?”

She was stalling, but opening up like this and telling the story Maxwell wanted, the way he wanted, went against everything she’d done, all the secrets she’d kept and all the sacrifices she’d made simply to ensure her own survival in this world.

It wouldn’t be as easy as just spitting it out.

At first, it looked like Maxwell might have considered taking a seat to hear the facts. But then his entire demeanor stiffened, his back growing rigidly straight, and he lifted his chin before lifting his gaze for a split second to meet hers. “I’ll stand right where I am, thank you. I can handle it.”

He had no idea what he was getting himself into. No idea what he was asking from her.

Fine, she could let him stand, but if her words swept him literally off his feet, it wouldn’t be her fault.

What was she thinking?Whatwords?

Then again, maybe Maxwell did know what he was getting into. Maybe he’d seen enough on his own to form an idea of the truth. Whatever version of it he’d settled on, he obviously didn’t like it enough to leave it the hell alone.

He needed to hear it from her, whether or not she thought it was a good idea.

Or maybe she could use this as a chance to gauge his reactions while she gave him the bare minimum. What she saw could tell her in its own way what else he carried in his mind. Whether it was concern for and loyalty to her, or hidden information requested by her enemies.

The truth was never just the truth, after all. It could also be a tool, a weapon, a final sliver of redemption.

Or the catalyst for total annihilation.

“Rebecca,” he murmured, watching her as she walked contemplatively around the office, weighing her options.

His gaze consistently burned the side of her face.

“I know,” she said. “I’m getting there, just give me a second.”

“After everything else?”

She whirled toward him and snapped, “If you can’t wait a few more seconds while I figure out how to say what I never thought I’d tell anyone, Maxwell, feel free to storm on out of here the same way you stormed right in.”

His expression went blank before he squared his stance toward her desk and clasped his hands together behind his back. At attention. Patient. Vigilant. Waiting on the word of his Roth-Da’al, because that was his only way of relating to her that didn’t drive him insane.

Rebecca recognized the predicament very well.

If she waited any longer to get at least some of this out of the way, the rising complications between them would only multiply and grow.

Finally, she stopped pacing and leaned back against the edge of her desk, feeling like herself enough to entertain this unthinkable conversation.

But still not quite enough to justify getting comfy for this just to bare the parts of her soul and her past she’d wished for so long she could have chopped away like a dead limb endangering the health of the rest of the tree.

Just enough to give him what he thought he wanted.

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