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I inhale, hands curling at my sides. “To talk,” I lie, though I’m not sure if talking is what I truly want.

Her eyes narrow. “At this hour?”

I lower myself beside her, the stone floor rough beneath my knees. My wing accidentally brushes her shoulder, and she flinches as though burned. My heart twists. “I… sense your anger,” I say quietly. “Your fear. It’s choking both of us.”

Her jaw clenches. “Well, maybe you should have thought of that before kidnapping me.”

I let the accusation hang in the air, guilt prickling my conscience. “I won’t apologize for saving your life. But I will admit I’ve… complicated matters.”

She exhales a shaky breath. “Complicated? That’s the word you use for trapping me with a gargoyle?”

I grit my teeth. “Yes. Because I can’t let you die, and you can’t walk freely without a death sentence from my kin. So we’re stuck. Both of us.” I glance down, noticing how her chain rests across her lap. The sight tightens a knot in my chest.

“Then do something about it!” she snaps, color rising to her cheeks. “You’re the unstoppable beast, right? You can kill me, or free me, or?—”

Her words catch, tears shimmering in her eyes. She looks away, furious at her own vulnerability. Something snaps in me, a wave of protectiveness that blots out reason. I reach for her hand on impulse. She tries to jerk away, but I catch her wrist gently, just enough to stop her from fleeing.

“Don’t,” she warns, voice quivering. But she doesn’t pull harder.

I lift her hand, turning it over in mine. My claws are retracted, as if I’m trying to appear less monstrous. Her fingers are calloused from labor, still trembling. Slowly, I shift closer, heart hammering. “I’m… not like them,” I manage.

She scoffs. “You don’t know that. Your own brand marks you as an executioner.”

I swallow, the brand on my forearm burning with phantom shame. “I can’t change my past,” I say, voice rough. “But I can choose not to kill you.”

Her eyes reflect the flicker of fire, confusion warring with bitterness. “You say that, yet you keep me chained. You control every breath I take.”

My chest tightens. “I—” I cut myself off, struggling to articulate the avalanche of conflicting desires that have plagued me since I saw her in that courtyard. “I want to protect you.”

She stares at me, her breath hitching. “That’s… twisted.”

She’s not wrong. But I can’t pretend otherwise. The pulse in my throat pounds, the coil of tension swirling between us. A storm brews inside me, urging me to close the distance. I shouldn’t. She’s fragile. Terrified. Everything about her screams that I’m the last creature she should want near. But part of me can’t resist the magnetic pull, the raw charge crackling whenever we’re close enough to feel each other’s warmth.

“Elyria,” I murmur, barely aware that I’m saying her name. She stiffens, lips parted. “Tell me to leave if you truly want me gone.”

Her mouth works soundlessly for a second, cheeks flushed. Then she shakes her head, a tiny motion. “I don’t trust you,” she whispers. “But I… I can’t do this alone.”

My heart lurches. It’s a confession, half-anguished, that slices through my final shred of restraint. I lean in, halting a hair’s breadth from her face, giving her every chance to push me away. She exhales unsteadily, eyes flicking from my mouth to my eyes. Fear and desire war in her gaze.

I should pull back. This is insane. But she closes the tiny distance, rising on her knees so our lips brush in a tentative collision—fragile, trembling. A jolt of heat surges through my body, electrifying every nerve. It’s a kiss fueled by desperation and confusion, a half-protest that transforms into something else.

She whimpers against my mouth, and I tighten an arm around her waist, drawing her closer. Our movements are clumsy at first—she’s still unsure, I’m all rigid muscle. Then the tension cracks, and we’re devouring each other in a frenzy ofpent-up frustration. Her nails dig into my shoulders, and my claws slip over her waist, careful not to cut.

The taste of her is dizzying, smoke and salt, the faint tang of the fear she’s carried for so long. My wings stir behind me, threatening to unfurl and encircle her, but I hold them in check. The chain at her collar presses against my chest. I hate that damned collar, but I can’t tear it off. Not yet.

She breaks the kiss with a gasp, eyes wild. “What are we doing?” she chokes out.

I bow my head, pressing my brow to hers. “I don’t know,” I admit hoarsely. “But I can’t stop.”

Her lashes flutter. Then she captures my mouth again, fierce and hungry. My heart roars in my ears. My lethal instincts scream at me to take, to claim, but I fight to keep my touch controlled. She’s small, delicate. One misstep, and I could leave bruises that mark her forever. I sense her body trembling with a mixture of fear and undeniable need.

We tumble onto the makeshift bedding, the fire casting dancing patterns across the ruined walls. Thunder growls outside, the storm drawing closer. My mouth travels down her neck, the collar an icy ring beneath my lips. She arches against me, a soft moan escaping. The sound ignites something primal in my blood.

I want her.

I pause, lifting my head to search her face. “Are you sure?” My voice scrapes the air, thick with longing.

She stares at me, lips swollen, breathing ragged. Her eyes shine with a desperate light. “Nothing about this is sure,” she breathes. “But yes.”