Page 28 of The Mourning Throne
Morgan took one step forward.
Just one.
The knife was still in his hand. It didn’t move. It didn’t have to. His gaze did all the work—cold and fixed and unreadable. The one that meant thehumanpart of Morgan was somewhere else right now.
“I mean it,” Lex added quickly, fingers still wrapped tight around Morgan’s arm. “Let’s not kill him yet.”
“We don’t play with our food,Lex.”
Please never refer to people as food, Morgan.
Gross.
“But what if we do?” Lex slid his fingers up to Morgan’s chest, tracing slow circles against the buttons. Coaxing Morgan down wasn’t his favorite thing. “Just this once.”
“You had your fun already.” Morgan’s voice was soft, but the pressure behind it wasn’t.
“I didn’t say I was done.”
Morgan’s gaze dragged over him—top to bottom. Slow. Not admiring. Not curious.
Calculating.
The same way he got when trying to weigh shit.
Like deciding if it’d be easier to stab Lex and go back to what hereallywanted to do.
Not good.
Lex licked his lips. His mouth was too dry. His pulse hammered in his throat, pounding hard enough to make him feel dizzy. Skipping from one uneven beat to the next, never finding its rhythm.
“Did I ruin your plans?”
The tic of Morgan’s jaw saidyes.Saidgo fuck yourself.
“Give me one reason,” Morgan murmured. “And speak fast, little brother.”
Lex could’ve said a dozen things. He could almost see the words stacking in his head, bright and frantic—You never let me break anything. I want to do it. It’s not fair.None of them would’ve worked. Jesus, they sounded whiny as hell, even to him. And Morgan wasn’t a fan of second chances.
“Because it’s what I want.”
He stepped closer and Morgan’s hand came down on his hip. Hard. It bypassed jeans and skin and hit straight nerve. Lex clenched his teeth, fighting through the pain.
Not an answer. Got it.
Lex didn’t move this time. Hehadto stand his ground or nothing was going to happen. He’d learned that the hard way.
“We’re here for a week, Morgan.”
“And?”
“Seven days is three bodies—” Lex lifted a hand. “—or! Or, or, or! Hear me out:one.”
Morgan’s expression didn’t waver. Flat, unimpressed. “That’s only if I continue indulging you.”
“You haven’t stopped yet.”
Lex grinned—too fast, too bright—and glanced over Morgan’s shoulder toward the tub. Ollie hadn’t moved. Still curled up there like an afterthought, crying so hard he might have stopped breathing.
