Page 59 of Beyond the Winter Kingdom
Damon’s voice broke the silence. “You are going to get us all killed.”
Sadie didn’t even look at him. “You’re just mad your dramatic belly flop didn’t earn you an applause.”
Damon made a noise that was half growl, half exhausted sigh. “I’ve been stabbed. I’ve been kidnapped. I’ve been tied up and dragged around against my will. But this? Being here with you? This takes the cake.”
“No one asked about your sex life,” Sadie quipped.
“I didn’t say—” he broke off, connecting the dots.
Sadie smirked. “Bit defensive there, princeling.”
“Do youevershut up?” Damon asked, dragging a hand down his drenched face.
“Nope,” she said brightly. “It’s part of my charm. If anything, I get louder when I’m tired.”
I couldn’t help the snort that escaped. Gods, she was being obnoxious right now. They both were. I wondered if they had hate-fucked already or if this was still the lead up.
Up ahead, Vareck’s shoulders were bunched in a solid line of tension. He didn’t look back, didn’t say a word. Just kept walking like the ground had offended him personally.
I picked up my pace until I was beside him. “You going to talk to me and tell me what’s up, or ...”
A suspended moment passed before he ground out, “Or.”
“All right,” I drawled. “Just pretending I don’t exist?”
His jaw flexed. “Not possible, even when I wish it was.”
I blinked, reeling back. “What?”
“Nothing,” he replied all too quickly. Too stiff. The lie sat between us.
I frowned. “That was a hell of a thing to say.”
He didn’t respond, just kept walking, fists clenched at his sides.
“Seriously? After everything,that’swhat you say to me?”
“I didn’t mean it,” he muttered. “This is why I was choosing silence.”
“Oh good,” I snapped. “You just said it, but you didn’t mean it, apparently. That makes it all better.”
He stopped again, turned toward me with stormy eyes. “I can’t ignore you or pretend you don’t exist. Like my fury, you’re ingrained in me. Even when I’m not with you, I’m thinking about you. That’s not helpful in times, like now for example, when I want to shake you for jumping off a fucking cliff. I should have just—” He broke off and exhaled harshly. “Never mind.”
My breath hitched.
There it was. A tender wound ripped open, ugly and bleeding.
“You should’ve what, Vareck? Compelled me?”
“I said never mind, Meera. Drop it.”
“So what, then? You’re mad because I made a choice you didn’t like? Because I didn’t wait for your approval before I chose to act quickly over getting eaten?”
“You jumpedoff a cliff,” he growled, voice full of barely controlled rage. “With no idea what was below. You had no plan. You can’t fly. You just chose to throw yourself over the edge and say fuck it without considering the consequences.”
I stared at him, heart thudding. “Oh, I’m sorry. Because compelling me to run and hide like a damsel in distress would have been a better alternative, then, would it?”
“You’re putting words in my mouth now.”
