Page 32 of Break Her Heart
Not another one.
I didn’t return the compliment. “I know.”
He circled the pedestal slowly, taking care not to step on the train. His gaze was curious, glittering, too knowing.
“It’s strange,” he mused. “To see Augustus with someone. But then, who could resist you?”
I didn’t respond, waiting for his attack.
He smirked, sensing the tension. “Relax. I prefer my lovers taller and broader, and my heart belongs to someone else.” He paused, inhaling deeply—too deeply. His eyes widened. “I knew it.”
I frowned. “Knew what?”
“I smelled you. Months ago, in the woods. It was… overwhelming.” His smile faded. “I almost came to find you. But Augustus found me first.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Convenient.”
“He was strange that night. Wanted to spend time with his brother. Took me away from the scent, acted like he couldn’t smell it.” Simon tilted his head. “Which now I know was a lie.”
I crossed my arms. “So you followed him instead.”
“I did.” He looked almost embarrassed. “I watched him feed. Six people, maybe more. It wasn’t hunger. It was frenzy. Like something inside him had snapped. It was sweet of him, protecting you from me.”
I kept my expression neutral. “Maybe he was protecting you from me.”
Simon blinked, caught off guard. For the first time, he looked unsure—his tongue stilled behind parted lips, as if realizing just how much he didn’t know about me after all.
“What are you doing in here?”
August’s voice cut through the room like a whip. He stood in the doorway, one hand braced against the frame, his eyes fixed on Simon with a look that could gut a man.
His gaze flicked to me, then dropped lower—to the lace clinging to my waist, the bare slope of my shoulders. When he looked back at Simon, the rage was quiet but unmistakable.
Simon stepped back instinctively. “I just came to let you know that Lavina wants to do another dinner tonight.”
August didn’t move. “Does she.”
Simon swallowed and tried a smile, but it faltered under the weight of August’s stare.
August finally pushed off the frame and walked into the room. “Why does she wish to make my life more difficult?”
“It’s Lavina,” Simon said quickly. “That’s why the gods gifted us with a sister.”
August stepped up to me, his eyes sweeping over the front of my dress with quiet deliberation before finally meeting mine. The pedestal I stood on brought me level with him—eye to eye, breath to breath. I fought the urge to step down, to retreat fromthe heat of his gaze and the closeness that made the air feel too thin.
“Very well,” August mumbled.
“You haven’t seen Corwin today, have you?”
I knew questions would come, but not this fast. They couldn’t know what I did. Eventually, they’d all know what I was capable of—when they were screaming and burning. But not now. Not yet. I forced my breath to stay steady, my spine stiff.
“No.” August rolled his neck, a muscle twitching in his jaw, but his eyes stayed locked on mine. “Is that all?”
Simon hesitated a beat longer than necessary, gaze flitting between us like he sensed something was off. “I’ll see the two of you tonight, then.”
As if silently instructed, Simon left in a blur, the air practically hissing in his wake.
“Why not tell them no? You’re the king.”
