Page 96 of Shadebound
“Yeah, no shit, you figured it out, but that doesn’t mean you get to just decide it’s right andgo leave it somewhere.”
His jaw flexed, smile falling a bit.
“What happens if you’re wrong?” I snapped. “What if it wasn’tmap,Zayden? What if it wasmoonlightormazeormonarchyor some other bullshit word, and you just handed them the wrong answer?”
His silver eyes rolled, and I wanted to throttle him for his cavalier attitude. “I’m not wrong.”
“You don’tknowthat,” I hissed, brain fog lifting as anger took over. “You don’t get to be this fucking reckless. This isn’t your game. It’s mine.They picked me.The killer didn’t say ‘let anyone help you.’ They said I have two days to answer.Me.What the hell do you think happens if they realise it wasn’t me who left the message?”
He didn’t respond. He just kept standing there, hand running through his messy hair, entirely unbothered.
Oh, I was going to smite him. And I wasn’t going to be gentle with it.
I could feel my hands shaking, and I swore I could feel Death’s presence in the air again. “You think they’ll just be cool with it? You think they’ll shrug and say ‘oops, wrong person, doesn’t matter’? What if they take it as a mistake? What if they punish someoneanyway?”
Still nothing. He was just confident and relaxed enough that I imagined throttling him.
“You could’ve just painted a target on yourself,” I said. “You don’t even know who they’ll come after. What if they decide to make a point?”
He kept his gaze steady as he said, “I wasn’t wrong, and I can mimic your handwriting. It’s easy. Chill out, Heartache. You’re fine.”
“God, Zayden—how the fuck do you think I’d feel if something actually happened?” My voice cracked, furious andbreathless. “If they came after someone I loved because you thought you could outsmart a murderer?”
He still didn’t seem concerned. Just stood there, chest rising and falling in steady rhythm while my world spun faster.
“Or worse,” I said. “What if they came foryou?What if you’re the one they decide to take as punishment for getting it wrong because you tried to play their game?”
The corridor froze, the stone pressing into the soles of my boots, the weight of everything I hadn’t said since the riddle dropped finally crushing its way out.
My head seemed lighter. Brain emptying of all fog as nothing but rage and fear took control.
Not fear for me. But forhim.
“I can’t lose someone else that I love,” I spat, my voice low and shaking. “I can’t loseyou.I will bring this fucking building down if you so much as have a malicious papercut, let alone someone sadistic psychopath kills you.”
His stare didn’t waver.
And then, like he’d been waiting for me to say it, he shifted our positions—grabbing my waist, backingmeup until my spine hit the wall. The stone was cold, but his body was warm, close enough that I could feel the tension rippling off him.
His breath touched my cheek as he spoke.
“Say that again.”
I blinked at him. “Saywhat?”
He leant in just a little more. His voice dropped, rough around the edges. “Say it. The thing you just said. You know what I’m on about.”
I swallowed, brain taking a second to catch on to what he meant.
“You heard me,” I muttered. “Don’t make me repeat it.”
He pushed me harder against the wall. “I want to hear it properly, Heartache. Say three little words in order. Just for me.”
With a clenched jaw, I let out a breath through my nose.
I waited.
Paused a bit more.
