Page 160 of Daughter of the Serpent

“Thentellme.” Her voice a cutting blade.

A flicker of agony shot through his gaze.

“Axel.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I want you - ”

His hand lifted between them - a barrier she wasn’t meant to cross.

“Don’t.” His voice was a warning.“Don’t say that to me.”

Silence coiled between them, thick and suffocating, as he tried to pull away. The movement was slight - but it might as well have been a chasm splitting open beneath her feet.

She refused to let him slip away.

Frustration flared in her chest at his stubbornness, burning hot. She stepped forward, closing the space he had created, her gaze locking onto his.

“I have spent too much of my life pretending, Axel. So don’t ask me to. Not with you.” She shook her head. “Never with you.”

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to keep going, to lay it all bare.

“I won’t stand here and lie to your face - because that’s never been us.”

She closed her eyes, willing herself to stay in control, to not give too much of herself away - but she could feel him. The heat rolling off his body. The way his breath faltered. The way his resistance was slowly cracking, piece by piece, like ice splintering underfoot.

“You’ve taught me to face the truth.” She sucked in a breath. “So here it is.”

No more silence. No more fear.

This was her moment to be brave.

Because tomorrow, everything could change.

Because in a few days, she could be nothing but dust at the gods’ feet.

There was only now.

This moment.

“All this time, I’ve been waiting - hoping - for someone, anyone, to see me. To accept me. And no one ever has.” Her throat burned, but she pressed on. “No one, until you.”

Her chest heaved, the truth breaking free.

“You’ve changed everything for me.”

Emotion surged in her chest, raw and consuming, pressing against her ribs like it was too much to hold.

“From the moment you found me,” she whispered, her voice unsteady. “Tended to me. Put a blade in my hand, and showed me I wasn’t powerless. That I could fight. That I could be strong.”

She swallowed hard, a breath hitching in her throat.

“And the way you believed in me - fiercely - even when I couldn’t believe in myself.” Her eyes burned, the sting sharp and aching. “The way you looked at me… like I mattered. Like I had always been worthy. Not just something to be endured.”

Her voice wavered, but she refused to stop.

“You’ve always seen me, Axel.” A sharp inhale, her lungs tight, asif saying the words made them more real. “Not for my flaws. Not for my curse - my blood.”

She shifted, pressing a trembling hand to her chest, as if she could hold the feeling in place. “Just me.”

A ragged breath shuddered from her lips.

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