Page 84 of Forbidden Empire

“What’s to say?” It came out rough, like I’d swallowed gravel. “We both know what comes next.”

He closed the gap in two steps, hands on my upper arms, before I could blink. His grip was punishing, but his chest was warm against mine. I inhaled him: sandalwood, whiskey, and some dark note that screamed violence. His heart pounded, way too fast for a guy trying to play it cool.

“Esme.” My name, low and strained. Almost reverent, almost damning. He touched the cut on my cheek, thumb gentle. “You don’t have to fight this battle. Ares and I can handle it.”

I jerked back. “You’re wrong, Aidon.” My hands curled into fists, nails biting skin. “If I don’t fight, she wins. That’s not going to happen. Not ever.”

He clenched his teeth so hard the scar above his eyebrow stood out, white and angry. He shoved a hand through his hair, wrecking the neat look he always went for.

“Why won’t you let me protect you?” He just stood there, staring, like the answer might write itself in thin air.

I laughed, I couldn’t help the brittleness of the sound. “Who said that was your job?”

I kept moving until we were nose to nose, chin up, daring him to flinch. His breath was hot, and I could feel it on my lips.

“If I’m remembering right, last time I asked who you were protecting me from, you said it was you.”

“Goddammit,” he snapped. His eyes went dark and stormy, all that anger wrapped up in a painfully handsome package. “You know I would never hurt you. Even if there were times I thought about it.”

“Sure you did,” I said, smirking. “I buy that.”

“You can’t blame me.” He looked like he wanted to punch a wall. “Every time I think I can trust you, you pull something like stealing Zeno’s box.”

“And yet, you still want to play bodyguard? Who’s the threat now, Aidon?”

“Fucking everyone, Esme!” His voice ricocheted off the walls, way too loud for the space between us. “Don’t you get it?”

“I’m not sure I do,” I said, chin up again. “Do you get that I can protect myself?”

“Oh? Is that what you were doing when Rhea abducted you, and I had to show up and bail you out?”

That stung. I hated that he was right, that I’d needed saving at all.

If Aidon hadn’t shown up, Rhea would have kept going.

I knew it. He knew it. Still, I wasn’t about to say it out loud.

“Rhea used me as bait. What she wants is you,” I said, refusing to give him the satisfaction of being right.

“I disagree with that fact. You’re the one stealing everyone’s fucking secrets, Esme.” He took a step closer, close enough that I caught the whiskey on his breath. “Maybe if you cut that shit out, they wouldn’t be hunting you like a prize deer.”

“Oh, that’s rich!” My palm hit his chest, hard, moving him not even a fraction. “Collecting secrets is your fucking business, Aidon! Your entire empire is built on blackmail and threats!” My voice cracked at the end, damn it. “Don’t you dare try to blame me for all this shit.”

“I’m not blaming you, Christ, Esme!” He caught my wrist, fingers digging in, tight enough to bruise. “But if you didn’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong, maybe we wouldn’t be in this fucking mess with bodies dropping all over Vegas!”

“My nose?” I tore my arm away, skin hot and burning where his hand had been. “I was only trying to help you, you ungrateful bastard!”

“Help me?” He slammed his fist into the wall next to my head, hard enough to crack the plaster. “I don’t need your fucking help with that.”

I stuck my finger into his chest, jabbing hard. “If it wasn’t for me,” I hissed, “you’d never have known about Zeno’s vault or how to get in. You’d be dead in a ditch somewhere.”

His face was all of a sudden right in mine, so close I could count the flecks in his eyes. “You came to me for help!” he shot back. “You were running scared when you crashed through my door!”

His breath was hot on my lips. The air between us buzzed, a mess of anger and something way more complicated.

Rage and want, all tangled up, and I couldn’t tell where one started or ended. My heart hammered so hard it hurt.

“Fuck!” He turned, stalking over to the glass like he was about to burst through. His reflection broke up across the window, multiplying the fury on his face.