Page 44 of The Crownless King

“And if I said it was?”

What did she say to that? She fell back on flippant, much more comfortable there with him.

“What do you do anyway?”

“Kill people.”

Her stomach dropped along with her jaw.

Levi scoffed. “Isn’t that what you think of me?”

She rolled her eyes and released the breath making her chest hurt. She turned to face him full-on and he didn’t have somuch as a smirk on his face. Amaya sipped her tea and debated what she wanted to say to him. He shifted on the lounger in clear agitation before sighing. Her magic reached out to him without any input from her, soothing him, and long moments later, his shoulders relaxed. He closed his eyes and laid his head back on the lounger. She thought he wouldn’t say anything else to her and she debated whether or not she should leave him, but his eyes opened and he pinned her with a look.

“Did you sleep well?”

She tucked her leg underneath her. “Well enough. My mother is settling here and I don’t know how to feel about that.”

Where had that come from?

“She’s more lucid here,” she continued, the words tumbling out.

Her mind was still wary around him, but it seemed her body had already gotten comfortable with Levi. Maybe her heart as well? Either way, she clamped her mouth closed, careful to keep her thoughts to herself.

He nodded. “I enjoy our dinner talks.”

She frowned. “You talk to my mother?”

“If you would leave your room more, you would know that I’m an exceptional host.”

She scoffed, fighting a smile. She refused to find him charming.

“What do you talk about?”

“You nosy, ain’t it?”

She gasped, affronted. “Excuse me for trying to make conversation with your grumpy ass.”

“You’re the reason I’m grumpy.”

“What the fuck did I do to you?” she asked, sitting straighter.

“Your very presence pisses me off!”

That hurt her feelings more than she was willing to let on. “You could let me go. I didn’t ask you to keep me here.”

He sat forward, his face inches from hers. “Don’t you think if I could let you go I would?!” Rage and something like helpless desperation covered his face. “I can’t sleep or feed or fucking concentrate with you under my roof, but to let you go would destroy me.”

She didn’t…how… Gods, did he truly mean that?

The silence between them was weighted and pressed down on her until it felt as though she was trying to breathe underwater.

“Levi,” she finally managed.

“Go, Amaya.”

Just him saying her name and not the nickname she’d become accustomed to shook her out of the stupor and had her darting inside the house because…what did she say to him? To that? She didn’t take a full breath until she reached her room. She closed the door and leaned against it, her heart rate galloping. So much information to process, she didn’t even know where to start.

Chapter sixteen