Page 96 of Reaper's Ruin
He turned to face me fully, his expression impossible to read in the dim light. “I’m not bothered by your heritage.”
“Liar.” I stepped closer, heart pounding with my boldness. “You hate the fae. You’ve made that abundantly clear. And now you’ve found out I’m one of them.”
“Half,” he corrected automatically, and I could have screamed in frustration.
“So that’s it. You’re pulling away because I’m not fully human.”
“That’s not—” He stopped, his jaw working as he struggled for words. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“Then explain it to me. Because from where I’m standing, it seems pretty simple. We kissed, you found out I’m half-fae, and ever since then, you’ve been acting cold as ice. You can barely look at me.”
The mention of our kiss changed something in the air between us—made it heavier, charged with memory and need. His eyes darkened, drifting momentarily to my lips before snapping back to meet my gaze.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand!” I kept my voice to a fierce whisper, though I wanted to shout. “Because I’m getting some seriously mixed signals here. One minute you’re looking at me like you want to devour me, the next you’re acting like I’m poison. Then I talk to another man, and suddenly you’re shooting death glares across the room.”
“You seemed to be enjoying his attention,” he said, his voice sharper than I’d heard it before.
My eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “So youwerejealous.”
“I was... concerned,” he corrected, but I wasn’t buying it. “You’re getting too comfortable in this role. Too invested in a world you don’t belong in.”
The words stung more than they should have. “And where exactly do I belong?” I challenged. “I’m dead, Rhyker. I don’t belong anywhere.”
“You belong—” He cut himself off abruptly, his expression shuttering.
I stepped closer, heart hammering. “I belong where? With whom?”
“You belong—” He stopped himself, teeth gritted, breath shallow. His hands flexed at his sides like he didn’t know what to do with them. Like he wanted to grab me, hold me,keepme, and was barely keeping himself in check.
His eyes met mine, and I saw something raw and unguarded in them—something that made my breath catch. Fear? Longing? Desire? Something... more?
Time stopped as he stood there, his mouth closed tight as if he was trying to hold in the words I prayed he would say.
Say it,I thought, desperate to hear the words tumble from those lips I wanted to kiss again, and again, and again.
But I didn’t need him to finish the sentence. I saw the answer in his eyes. And that was somehow worse. I could see it all written across his face—the longing, the ache, the storm he couldn’t quiet.
It was the same storm raging inside of me.
“I kissed you,” I said finally, my voice softer now. “And you’ve been acting like it never happened. Like I mouth-molested you and you’re horrified by it. But then you look at me sometimes, like right now, and I think—” I hesitated, vulnerability washing over me. “I think maybe you felt it too. Whatever this is between us.”
He remained silent, but his gaze lifted and his eyes... his eyes told a different story. They roamed my face with an intensity thatleft me breathless, lingering on my lips before meeting my gaze again.
Before Rhyker could respond, the sound of voices in the corridor outside froze us both. They were getting closer, heading directly for the chamber.
Panic surged through me. Rhyker grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the window where heavy velvet curtains offered the only hiding place.
We pressed ourselves into the narrow space between the curtain and the glass, my back against the cold window as Rhyker’s body covered mine completely. In the confined space, every inch of him seemed to touch every inch of me—his stomach against my breasts, my hips against his thigh.
“Don’t move,” he whispered, his lips so close to my ear that I felt rather than heard the words. “Don’t breathe.”
The door to the chamber opened with a soft click, and footsteps entered the room—two sets, from the sound of it. My fingers clutched reflexively at Rhyker’s jacket, fear making my heart race.
Or maybe it wasn’t just fear.
Despite the danger, despite the possibility of discovery, my body was achingly aware of Rhyker’s proximity. The solid wall of his chest. The warmth radiating from him. The way his breath stirred my hair.
