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“No, you’re right, I don’t.” He leaned forward, the firelight making his brown skin look even warmer, as though lit from within. “In Isambard, we don’t endanger the people we love.”

“It was my choice.” I spat back. “I’m not some simpering little girl.”

“That’s not the point.” Rook moved closer to me. “You’re fierce, and you’re a fighter, but if you were mine -“

“Well, I’m not!”

“Keep your fucking voice down, or we both die.”

“Good.” I felt tears forming in my eyes again.

Rook growled through gritted teeth. “Maybe you are just a stupid little girl.”

“Get out of my room.” I hissed, kicking my legs out at him. “Go away.”

Rook rose from the bed but didn’t move any further, leaning one hand against a bed post. “You risked your life to die next to the man you loved, that was it?”

“What would you understand about it?”

“Everything,” he snarled. “I would never place the woman I love in that kind of danger, for some stupid fucking vow.”

“Are we still talking about me?” I asked him, climbing off the bed and looking up at him in the half-light. “Because you seem very eager to tell me what you would have done, like that matters.”

“Itdoesfucking matter.”

“Why?” I shoved him in the chest.

“Because it doesn’t make any fucking sense.” He sucked in a rasping breath. “Fuckinggods.You want a man who’d be happy to watch you die in front of him, is that it?”

I slapped him hard across the face, the sound ringing shrilly through the room. “How fuckingdare you.”

Rook leaned down over me, his face less than an inch from mine. “Where is he now, Elara? Hmm? He died and left you here, to fight this shit on your own. That’s his bond to you, is it?”

“Get out of my room.” I pushed against his chest, but he didn’t move, didn’t budge at all. “I said, get the fuck out of my room, you fucking brute.”

Rook seized my arms, pulling me against his chest. His eyes glowed, searing blue, and yet not at all cold. His heart thundered between us, the heat from his skin seeping against me. “You asked me up here for a kiss, remember?”

“You can fuck off with your kiss.” But I didn’t fight him. I stayed there, cursing myself for the desire that still coursed through me.

Rook’s mouth twitched at the corner, into a small crooked grin. “Wouldn’t want to kiss you right now anyhow, you stubborn little bitch.” But he still didn’t let me go. Finally, his grip on me relaxed, and the tension of rage left my body. We both sighed, almost at the same time, and his head dropped a little. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’re right. It was stupid of me.” I gazed up at him, raising a hand to his cheek. “When you said you understood me, what did you mean? Theron said you knew all about loss.”

“That’s a story for another time, love. After what you went through today, I don’t want to tell you…” He trailed off, and he lowered his mouth to my cheek. “I’m sorry about your mother.”

I leaned against him, feeling his lips, his warm breath washing over my skin. “It’s alright, I saved her.” I murmured. “She’s safe now, back home.”

“Mmm.” His hands moved, from holding mine to his chest, to around my shoulders. His mouth moved along my jawline, along my scars, and his fingers caressed my back. He growled, low in his throat, when I shivered against him. “Watching you fight down there, alone, it fucking kills me.”

My fingers flexed on his chest as my head tipped back, letting his mouth explore more of my neck. “It does?”

“I don’t do well watching people I care -” He broke off, and a strangled breath passed between his lips. He crushed me against him, and I balked for only a split second as I felt the hard heat of his arousal through his clothes. “Fucking Nav, Elara. You’re going to drive me mad.”

“You care for me?”

“The first person I’ve cared about in years.” His hands moved lower, down my back, to my ass. His touch was light, still questioning, but that somehow just made the longing pulling my stomach taut even more acute.

“Why is this happening to us?” I asked as I wound my arms around his neck. It didn’t matter, it didn’t fucking matter why, oh Gods I just wanted him to throw me on the bed. I wanted to feel his body, all of it, all of it against me. The scent of his skin, that soothing freshness and saltiness, was intensified as his blood heated his body.