Page 174

But she did realise her mistake in coming here.

I could have bled myself.

She’d been in the cooking alcove where there had been knives. It wouldn’t have taken her long to cut down her wrists and bleed the last of what she had inside her.

My death may have come peacefully as it was coming before.Now she feared it would be violent.

She bit back a cry at the sudden stomach twist she felt when she saw him coming down the tunnel through the water. She expected to see a Dragon, not the human who decided to wear leather breeches when he usually hated them.

Every swift footstep closer made her heart quicken and quiver in reaction, and she covered her mouth to hide the quick, high-pitched breaths that escaped her. She cringed when he stood at the entrance, his head moving as though was looking over the entire area.

The waterfall made it murky to see, but she knew he was coming closer to the stream. Every time he took a step, her head shook. He was veering in her direction.

Before he could even duck his head between the waterfall and the wall, Amalia unfurled herself from her hiding spot. She backed up so she was on the other side of the cascading waterfall.

She held her hand forward when she knew he saw her.

“Stay back,” she pleaded.

He didn’t growl or snarl like she expected him to. He didn’t have that hateful nose crinkle she’d seen him wear. She didn’t expect him to halt when she asked him to, and he stayed still while peeking around the stream of the waterfall.

They were staring at each other, and Amalia didn’t know what to do. She considered diving for the stream, but she knew it wouldn’t matter.

He is faster than me. He will catch me.She couldn’t stop the strangled sound that came from her at realising this.

He took a slow, deliberate step towards her and her heart leapt to her throat. She backed up a step. When he took another, so did she, but she could feel her tears rising and beginning to fall. Her feet found the other wide space next to the stream and he seemed to come faster.

“Amalia.” His voice was quiet, but she didn’t know the emotion behind it.

Was it a warning? A threat?

She was too afraid of him to register anything other than her fear.

“Please,” she cried. Her legs already felt weak, and she tripped back on her retreat. She still tried to scramble back on her backside. “I did not know,” she tried to tell him.

But she knew Rurik wouldn’t listen through his anger and would often ignore words to lash out first.

“I did not know who he was before this day! I did not know those people!” He was right near her feet when she covered her head with her arms and cringed. “Please do not burn me.”

Hands grabbed around her forearms. Her chest tightened to the point she thought it would make her pass out, and she felt even more light-headed than before.

She wondered if her heart would stop beating in fright.

She even wanted it to.

When her arms were forcibly moved and she felt a hand on the side of her face and another on her shoulder, she clenched her eyes shut tight. She didn’t want to face whatever was about to happen.

They fluttered open when she felt his firm lips against her own.

He was crouching down over her with a knee between her legs while his right foot was placed on the ground beside her leg. His hands weren’t gripping her violently, and his mouth was gentle against hers.

His silver eyes looked into hers, but she’d never seen them look so kind before. She knew hers would be a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Pulling back, the hand on the side of her face gently brushed back to be behind her ear and through her hair.

“I know,” he said, making her bottom lip tremble. “I know you did not have any part in it.”

His silver eyes flicked between hers as he waited for her to understand she wasn’t in any danger. That she was safe. He kissed her to show her he wasn’t angry, and didn’t hate her.