Page 11 of Her Warrior Fae

Dex shook his head and laughed without expression. “Do you think I don’t know you? It’s been five hundred years, Nylah. I know when you’re avoiding me.”

“If that’s what you think is going on after all this time, it shows that you don’t know me at all.”

My argument sounded as fickle as it was. Dex had it exactly right.

I stood and carried the scroll to a large bookshelf that stood against the war wall. I propped it up on a pile of tomes. I would take it back to my room later.

When I turned around, Dex was right behind me. My breath caught in my throat at his sudden closeness, and I tried to step away from him, but my back hit the bookshelf behind me. I was stuck—he’d trapped me between his large body and the bookshelf.

I stared hard at his chest to avoid his eyes.

“What’s going on?” Dex demanded.

“Nothing’s going on.” His chest was perfectly chiseled. I could see its form through the leather that spanned his chest, embroidered with silver thread that indicated his station in the royal hierarchy.

“Nylah,” he said. His voice was thick and deep, and I shivered as it ran over my skin like a live thing, igniting a flame deep at my core.

You’ll just lose him if you fall for him. I had to remember what I was doing this for.

Dex made it hard to think when he stood this close. He smelled like musk, like rain, likeman, and the scent in my nostrils was intoxicating.

“You’ll have to leave, Dex,” I said firmly.

Thankfully my voice didn’t betray how weak at the knees I felt.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on. What did I do to anger you? Why are you pushing me away?”

“You didn’t do anything,” I replied in a breathy voice.

“You can’t treat me like this.”

“I don’t owe you anything.” I finally looked up at his eyes. It was a big mistake—they were dark and drowning deep. I could fall into those eyes and fall forever.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Dex bellowed, his face twisted into a mask of anger. “You don’toweme anything? When did our relationship become a system of earning each other’s affection? We’re closer than that, we’ve been more to each other than that.”

“So, you’re telling me just because we’ve always been close, I’m obliged to give you the attention you want?” I asked.

My arguments were pathetic, but I needed this to become a fight. If we fought, I would stop thinking about his body and how close he stood to me, how I felt his warmth radiating from his skin.

Dex shook his head. I felt his anger rolling off him in waves. I hated it, but anger was good. Anger replaced lust.

“I’m not asking for attention. I’m asking for things to go back to the way they were. You’re pushing me away. You’re avoiding me, and I did nothing to deserve it!”

He was right. My heart constricted. I was punishing him for something he hadn’t done. Terra was doing that to me, too. My mind spun. Could I tell Dex what I’d seen? I didn’t want him to know. The less he knew, the better. If he knew that we were meant to be together, he might push for it. I didn’t trust myself enough to resist him.

“Things change, Dex,” I said tightly. “It’s a part of nature. Nothing can stay the same forever.”

“We’re closer than this.”

“Not anymore.”

He pulled his lips back in an animalistic snarl, and I knew he was holding back his frustration. Dex could be terrifying—he was a strong warrior who knew how to handle himself and how to wield his power.

I had never feared him, though. He would never hurt me. He had always been my protector.

Instead, I was hurting him.

Dex glared at me, his eyes locked on mine, and his chest rose and fell with his anger. I’d wished for it so that it would drive away my lust, but Dex was fighting-fit and ready to go. His muscles bulged, his clenched jaw only made his square features look that much more handsome, and my body ached for him. Warmth flooded my body and pooled between my legs.

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