Page 90 of Soulgazer

“Steal your heart?”

Shame burns a path up my throat. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

I brace my fingertips against the curved wood behind me. Curl my toes against the ground. “I don’t want to be just another one of your stories.”

“Aye, you’ve made that pretty fecking clear.” His voice drops near to a growl. “And yet for a woman who wore feathers the first time we met, I’ve never known another person to be so damned devoted to their own cage. So riddle me this.”

Faolan’s eyes lock onto my face with a hunter’s focus, tracking the spread of color across my skin.

“What do you want from me, Saoirse?”

My mouth runs dry. “I want—I want to survive.”

“No.” His laugh is rough. “We’re well past that now. What else?”

Only my nails brush the wall now. “I want to be free.”

“Then prove it.” Faolan sneers—a savage thing that calls to the beast cornered inside my own chest. Compels it until I’m crossing the room, feet striking the ground in a way they haven’t since I was a child.

He doesn’t move—doesn’t have to. Between one shallow breath and the next, I’m standing before him. Hands raised, lip curled asFaolan pushes a lock of hair back from my face. Searches my eyes like he wants to steal them. “Stop bloody caging yourself. Tell me what you want.”

I react without thinking, my hand flying up toward his face.

It doesn’t land. Not because Faolan caught it—his own hands are open at his sides—but because I cannot hurt him. As badly as I want to, as much as he deserves to feel every ounce of betrayal raging inside me, I can’t do it. My body knows what happens when I fight back.

Tears gather sharp behind my eyes as I falter a step, until Faolan’s hand wraps around my own.

“You’re angry. And hurt.”

My tongue is useless as he drags my hand to his chest.

“And you want to hurt me back.” Faolan spreads my fingers with his own, pressing until they dig into his flesh. “So do it. I’ll even admit I deserve it after that stunt on deck. But know this, Saoirse.”

His eyes never once waver from their dark, liquid blue—a sight that will haunt me to my last days.

“Whatever story is spun about the two of us, I’ve meant every bloody word. Every moment. Every touch. Legends like ours don’t die.” Faolan’s hands fall away, and I see the meaning in his face.

It’s my choice. Just as it has been from the beginning.

I’ve lived in fear of power my entire life. Fear of myself, of those who raised me—of wanting anything too much, because desires can so easily be taken away or destroyed. I learned not to ask much of the world or my place in it. Learned that choice came with consequence, so it was better not to choose at all.

But Faolan’s right. It’s just another cage.

I twist my fingers into his shirt, and a flicker of a smile graces his lips.

Until I push him back against the door.

Idowant. So fiercely. I wake up with my insides screaming for it every morning and fall into restless sleep every night. I strangle it into silence, pretend like nothing is amiss. And maybe it’s selfish or wrong—I’m still furious, and my heart’s an open wound.

But when Faolan’s eyes drop to my lips, I drag him down and seal my mouth to his.

I kiss him like I’m scared someone might take him away. Full and ferocious—not the least bit tame. Faolan is still for only a heartbeat, and then his fingers knot in my hair, giving me no quarter to back down or regret it.

So I don’t.

I part his lips like he taught me, catching the full bottom curve between my teeth. He jerks closer, body rolling into mine as his hands drop from my hair to hook beneath my thighs. One sharp tug and he lifts me, wrapping my legs around him so our chests flatten together as he turns to press my back into the wall.