Page 117 of A Storm in Every Heart
I swear I see sparks flash in her eyes, but when she answers her voice is coolly detached. “If you are, it won’t be because I asked you to. And stop snarling at me. I don’t belong to you, you don’t get to have an opinion on where I go or what I do to help our court just because we slept togetheronce.”
“Yeah,once,” I grumble, starting to row again.
I’m really starting to hate that word.
My mind fogs over, thoughts scattering as molten anger sears through my veins. She wants to put herself in danger again and just the thought of it sends a violent tremor rattling through me. And on top of that, she felt the need to remind me that I have no right to feel like this.
My fists clench involuntarily, nails digging into my palms around the handle of my oar.
“Calm down,” Odessa says. “Gods, Fae men can be so dramatic.”
“Excuse me?” I grit out.
“You’re all so painfully predictable. Possessive, aggressive, and irrational. It’s not really your fault, I guess. Give it a week and I’m sure you’ll go back to normal.”
My eyes practically bug out of my head. She thinks this is normal? No, whatever the reaction I’m having is not fucking normal.
She’s right that Fae as a whole—both men and women—can be domineering, but that’s a hell of an understatement compared with how I feel at the moment.
I’m going to fucking lose it.
I’ve never really lost control of myself before—unless you count yesterday on the pirate ship, but even that was relativelycontained given the circumstances. Now, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m shaking. Sweating. About to burst out of my own skin.
The only time I’ve ever seen anyone react even close to how I feel was that time when Daemon ripped another man’s arm off for touching Alix, then forced me to lock him in a bathroom to keep him away from her.
Immediately banishing that thought from my mind before I can dwell too long on it, I steer the little boat toward the bank of the river before I break my paddle in half by mistake.
“Why are we stopping?” Odessa asks sharply.
“I need a break.”
I need to splash some water on my face and maybe walk away from Odessa for a few minutes because at the moment I’m not entirely sure if I’d rather strangle her for wanting to do something so insanely stupid as risk her life again, or throw her down on the nearest river bank, rip her dress off, and prove that she’s mine and I have every right to react however I want to her suggesting otherwise.
I stab my paddle into the muddy riverbank and scramble out of the boat, not even caring that I’m standing in water higher than the tops of my boots. Then, I bend to drag the rowboat up onto the bank, so it’s half on land, half in the reeds along the side of the water.
Odessa glares at me from the boat, her arms crossed and for the second time today, I have the strangest feeling like I’ve been here before…or done this before? Something is nagging at the back of my mind, and I can’t quite figure out what it is.
I let out an angry sigh, and tear my eyes away from her. “I’m going to dunk my head in the water. Just give me a minute.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m not bathing with you again if that’s what you’re trying to do.”
“I wouldn’t fucking dream of it, Princess. I don’t expect you to do anything that wasn’t mostly your idea.”
She lets out a short breath, clearly offended, as I kick my wet boots off and roll my trousers up over my knees before pulling my shirt off and tossing it into the boat.
Suddenly, Odessa gasps. “What the fuck is that?”
I freeze, thinking she’s seen an animal, and turn in a circle before catching sight of her face. She’s staring at me—or more specifically at the tattoo on my chest.
Shit.
In an instant, all the righteous rage that was coursing through my body evaporates and is replaced by panic. I put both my hands up, as if calming a wild horse. “Listen, I can explain.”
Her eyes widen and her mouth twists into an almost comical snarl of horror. When she answers her voice is clipped, gravelly, like she’s having a hard time forming the words. “I’d hope so,Your Majesty. I’d love to hear you explain why you have a tattoo of my face on your chest.”
ODESSA, AGE 16
The sky is turning pink with the first light of dawn when I finally leave the beach.
