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I savored her small discomfort even as I realized she’d given him a name.
The Nightmare King...so that was what was inside me. It seemed little Miss Memory here had lots to tell me.
I grabbed her upper arm and roughly pulled her toward our room. Dead girl walking. The thud of my boots meting out my wrath.
Slamming her onto the hood of myreclaimedcar to cuff her after I’d caught her hadn’t been enough.
The minute we were inside the room, she started trying to rationalize with me. “Ow. My leg—it hurts.”
This morning I might have cared.
With her still handcuffed, I pinned her by the throat, crushing her cuffed hands up against the door. Tilting to get a better look at her thigh, I pushed a finger against the seam of the wound—
“Jesus, Val!”
—and watched the sluggish swell of blood.
“I cut it on a piece of glass.”
My gaze flicked to hers. “You’ll live.”
“Fuc—”
My fingers squeezed. “Use your air to tell me about the Nightmare King.”
She strained and swallowed, the light brush against my palm reminding me of the night I’d broke into her apartment. The look in her eyes? I wagered she remembered it too.
Full circle.
Once again, I needed her to trust me.
SHE TOOK THE KNIFE. SCHOOL THE BITCH.
Shut up, leech.
Now was not the time to become unhinged.
Zara maintained eye contact as she trembled, a current of fear running through her body and into my hand.
I clamped down on my anger, holding the tide as I slowly eased my grip.
It didn’t make me gentle as I spun her round then uncuffed her left wrist.
“You think you’re a bad ass.” She glared at me as she rubbed her wrist. “You’ve got nothing on the Nightmare King.”
“Get this into your pretty little skull—I’mnothim.”
“Yeah.” Her laugh was harsh. “You make me feelsooomuch safer.”
“Safe? You want to feel safe? Tell me, who the fuck keeps saving you? How’s that for safe?”
“Yeah? And who’s going to save me from you?” She got right up into my face.
My jaw ticked. “You’re so sure I’m this monster?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.
I nodded, as if I not only understood but agreed. Flicking my thumb over my bottom lip, I considered my options.
