Page 9 of Tempted
I keep doing my best to avoid looking his way, willing my gaze to stay firmly put on the sparkling sea before us. Especially now that he’s standing directly next to me, his arm brushing against my own and making my skin crawl in revulsion. It takes everything in me not to pull away and show him my discomfort.
“Thanks but no thanks. I really don’t need to know you on that level. What happened before was a mistake,” I state, leaving no room for argument.
Not that it stops him from trying.
“Or it was fate giving me a second chance,” he says cryptically. “The Goddess doesn’t make mistakes so I can only assume you’ve been brought here to me for a purpose.”
“What?” My face scrunches in confusion and alarm as I process his words, finally giving in to the need to face him and let him see the outrage and disgust I feel toward him.
I considered his low key stalking an obsession before but maybe it’s more than that? Is there a word more intense than obsession? Fixation? Infatuation?Neurosis? It’s often said that there’s a fine line between genius and madness. This guy clearly lives on that line. “You can’t say shit like that. And you can’t keep following me around like you have been. I haven’t said anything because you’ve not been atotalpsycho about it but this right here? It’s taking things about fifty steps too far and if you don’t chill, I’m calling my parents. You of all people know how intense my mother will be and how hard she’ll come down on you if you mess with her legacy.”
“You’ve noticed me all this time?” he queries, completely missing my point. His face lights up at the prospect and it makes my stomach drop in worry.
“Did you think you weren’t being obvious?” I ask incredulously.
“I guess I was under the assumption that you were like damn near everyone else and should have known better. Most people aren’t as intuitive as you. In fact, I find a majority of humanity prefers to live in a constant state of ignorance.”
“Ignorance is bliss as they say. Not everyone has the capacity to face the darkness this world has to offer. It’s likely a blessing and a curse, just as it is to be painfully aware of everything and the happenings that are too hard to face day to day. It’s one thing to say you want to be courageous and another thing entirely to actually act on it. It’s even more convenient now to be a keyboard warrior and post things on social media to pretend you know what’s what, but the reality is that unless you’re living the life you’re posting of, you’re not really all that brave at all. I prefer to simply live, and with that comes awareness and intuition, I suppose. Now, speaking of bravery, I’m asking that you please leave me alone,” I say, figuring it’s best to just be honest about things at this point.
“If it were only that easy,” he replies, making me glare at him.
“It is that easy. You just stay away,” I insist, trying to quell my inner panic.
“That’s like telling the tides not to follow the moon, or the stars not to shine. You are the sun and I’m helplessly in your orbit. My only goal is to see to it that you shine your light on me more so than the other planets in your galaxy.”
What. The. Fuck?
What does that even mean? What orbit? What planets?
“Would you stop speaking in riddles? There is no orbit and no other planets,” I demand, echoing my thoughts aloud. “I’m here to gain the academic knowledge I need to fulfill my dreams and prove I’m worthy of the love and the success I deserve. I intend to earn it all with hard work and dedication to my goals. That’s it. I didn’t ask for your attention, nor do I want it.”
“I’ll make you a deal. If you call off your plans to seek what you shouldn’t, I’ll leave you be. You must keep your word or things will change in ways none of us will enjoy. Youwillget hurt and I’ll be powerless to stop it,” he tells me, speaking as cryptically as before.
It’s infuriating.
“What are you even talking about? I’ve done nothing to you and I don’t care to seek out whatever bullshit you’re trying to hide. I don’t care about any of it.”
“Lying to me is a mistake,” he growls, moving in to close the distance between us, suffocating me with his presence. Even the skies seem to grow darker with each slow, deliberate step he makes toward me, and it’s as if the storm passing through his gaze is coming to life with his ever growing anger. He knows I’m lying so I need to find a way to be honest without promising anything.
“I have no plans to do anything more than maintain the steady peace I’ve created since moving here,” I tell him honestly. And when he does that thing he does where he stares through me and his eyes go a little bit cloudy, I know he can see the truth in my words. I can only hope that he doesn’t see that the steady peace I’m searching for includes giving in to my insistent need to study those ruins. They call to me like a Siren’s song. There’s something there that I need to discover, I only wish I knew why he was so adamant that I don’t.
“Swear it.”
“I swear that my intentions are not malicious. I swear that I seek nothing more than knowledge and truth. I swear that my only goals are to be the best in my field, both academically and eventually professionally. I swear that I’m here to live up to my mother’s legacy and destroy the path she laid for me with my own success and drive. Is that enough for you?”
He stares at me for a long time. Too long really.
Grabbing my chin in his hand, he forces me to look up at him as he brings his face so close to mine, our lips and noses would touch if we were a hairsbreadth closer. “If I find out that you’ve deceived me, I’ll bring this world to ruin and all your best laid plans will fall to the deepest depths of hell. You’ll be mine whether you like it or not and no one will get in my way. Not again,” he growls before kissing me roughly—painfully. He bites my lower lip so hard I bleed and sweeps his tongue into my mouth at my gasp of pain. When I’m finally able to push him off of me he doesn’t bother saying another word, instead turning on his heel and leaving me reeling on the top of a cliffside. Leaving me with not an ounce of peace left in my soul.
I hate that man.
Chapter Five
Felix
He’skeepinghisword.
To say I’m shocked is an understatement, yet the immense feeling of relief and gratitude definitely overrides my surprise. I haven’t felt that forbidding sensory strain now in weeks and it’s blissful. So much so that time feels like it’s slipping away faster than I know what to do with it. I’m officially three months free of the omnipresent threat of my teacher and it feels both overwhelmingly good and profoundly bad.
