Page 179 of Fractured Loyalties
“I’m stating facts.”
He breathes deeply, slower now, but every inhale is like it costs him something.
“Do you regret coming with me?” he asks.
I pause. My throat tightens. “No.”
Elias watches me like he doesn’t believe me—but he wants to.
“You should,” he mutters. “It’s not going to get easier.”
“I didn’t ask for easy,” I reply.
He exhales a breathless chuckle, but it dies quickly in his chest. His fingers reach up, catching the hem of my shirt near my waist.
“Lie with me,” he murmurs.
“I already am.”
“No. Not to sleep.”
There’s nothing overt in his tone. No seduction, no edge. Just need. Honest, stripped-down want. He could be asking for warmth. Or penance.
I stretch out beside him slowly. His fingers slide over my ribs, then stop—hovering at the place just beneath my breast. Not claiming. Just anchoring.
“I hate that you see me like this,” he says.
“Injured?”
“Vulnerable.”
I don’t respond right away. I don’t know how.
“Do you think less of me for it?” he asks.
“No,” I whisper. “I think more.”
He closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them again. “Because you want to fix me?”
“Because I finally believe you’re human.”
That stings him. I see it.
“Do you miss being the monster?” I ask quietly.
He doesn’t answer. Not with words. His hand moves lower, slow, cautious. My breath stills. Not from fear. Not from shame.
From anticipation.
Elias’s fingers press gently against my stomach, then drift up again, tracing the outline of my ribs, my collarbone. He’s not looking at my body. He’s looking at my reaction. At control. Still testing the limits of what I’ll allow.
“I need you to understand something,” he says.
“Okay, what is that?”
“If I kill again, it won’t be for justice. It will be for you.”
I freeze.
