Page 36 of Claim Me

“We’ll be leaving in thirty minutes,” Kaspian informs all of us. “The execution is set for twelve hundred hours.”

Fallon nods. “Then I should probably change into something more execution-appropriate.” She slides her chair against the tile, the wooden legs screeching and echoing through the room. “Excuse me,Your Highness.”

She gives the Gold and Garnet King a mock curtsy and leaves the dining area without a backward glance.

Kaspian’s jaw ticks in response, his gaze narrowing at her back. “Why is she always like this?” he mutters under his breath.

“Maybe try calling herFalloninstead ofMiss Doyle,” Nox offers. “Or make her food. It works for me and Bane.”

Nolan grunts but says nothing else.

I don’t bother commenting and instead busy myself with cleaning up the table so Fallon doesn’t have to after the execution.

“You could also try a little more small talk before diving into the daily itinerary,” Nox adds. “Sort of like how you would handle a woman at the bar—you don’t just immediately ask to fuck her, do you?”

“I don’t want to fuck Fallon,” Kaspian says to him, his tone underlined with a harshness that has me wondering who he’s trying to convince here—himself or us.

“Perhaps that’s your problem, then.” Nox doesn’t sound deterred by Kaspian’s tone at all, probably because he’s used to Kaspian’s irritable moods where Fallon is concerned. “You treat her like a responsibility and a burden, Kas, not like a lady you want to seduce. Dating, after all, is the best form of interrogation.”

“Is that what you’ve been doing?” Nolan interjects. “Dating?”

“I’ve been treating her like a person, not a prisoner,” Nox tosses back, an uncharacteristic note of steel entering his words. “Perhaps you two should try it.”

“And do what? Woo her with desserts and breakfasts? Ask about her feelings?” Nolan scoffs at that. “You two phantoms are drunk on her death magic and losing sight of her purpose.”

“Which is what?” Fallon asks, her sharp voice making me wince. “To rot in this gilded cage while you assholes continue to interrogate me about my powers?”

Shit. She’s still wearing her towel, which means she likely didn’t even make it to her closet before she started eavesdropping on their conversation.

“You know what I can do,” she goes on. “You’ve experienced it for yourselves. What more do you want? A demonstration of what I’ll do if my soul breaks this afternoon? Details about my personal life that don’t apply at all to this situation? Secrets that are not yours to know?”

While she was initially responding to Nolan, her focus is on Kaspian by the end.

“Has it ever occurred to you that I don’t want or need your trust?” she demands.

“You need it if you want your freedom,” Kaspian bites back.

Fallon stares at him for a beat before shaking her head and leaving the room, her lack of a rebuttal unlike her. Usually, these two engage in the same circular argument, both of them escalating until they’ve repeated their sides fifty different ways.

But Fallon almost appeared too tired to even try, like she was giving up on the entire situation.

Giving up onhim.

I frown, not liking that approach at all. Her fight is what makes her a survivor.Is she saving her energy for later today? Or is this another bad omen?

Kaspian growls something unintelligible under his breath while Nox whistles and shakes his head. “Iknowhow good you are at seducing women. Yet somehow Fallon reduces you to a juvenile vampire with no understanding of female emotions. It’s amazing, really.”

“Because I have no interest inseducingher,” Kaspian reiterates between his teeth. “Two very different situations.”

“Then maybe you need a new approach,” Nox drawls as he stands up and carries a stack of dishes over to me at the sink. “Try caring about her feelings a little more and maybe she’ll talk to you.”

“Because that’s working so well for Bane,” Nolan points out, making me frown.

“I’m not even involved in this conversation,” I tell him. “Leave me out of it.”

“You’re very much involved, phantom.” He glances between me and Bane. “Both of you have tried the soft approach, and it’s accomplished nothing. Now we’re out of time, the woman is going to implode, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”

“We don’t know that.” And I really don’t appreciate him losing faith in her so quickly. “She’s stronger than you give her credit for,archangel.”