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I would have almost missed it, but the abnormal uncertainty and doubt in his tone had me blinking at him.
There was a frown on his lips, his brows tugged low and his face expressing a cross between upset and stressed.
“Do you hate me?”
I wanted to pull back and look at his face properly, but his arms held me firmly. His eyes narrowed slightly, not in a threatening manner, but still in a way that stilled me from moving.
“Why are you asking?” My voice came out a little hoarse.
“Because.” His lips pressed together, his features morphing into a different expression, another one I couldn’t name. “I forced you to leave. I never did that before, I…”
His grip on me tightened again.
“You allowed me to leave on my terms before,” I finished for him.
He drew his hands away from me and crossed them in front of his face in a way that prevented me from seeing his eyes, then he nodded.
“Not just that,” he mumbled, still covering his eyes. I hated that I couldn’t see the emotions they could be conveying. “I wasn’t there to greet you the last time you came and you… you endured all of it.”
But it was still you, I wanted to say.It was still you in there, and it wasn’t as horrible as you think because it was En and, as unpredictable as he was, En is a part of you.
Joy bubbled in me, clawing its way up my throat, and I couldn’t stop it despite knowing the reaction it would bring out of him. It may not cheer him, it may not bring the spark back into his eyes or the soft smile back on his lips, but I could not stop it.
“Remember what I would often tell you?” I asked, smiling. Perhaps he noticed the teasing edge in my tone because, although reluctant, his hands lowered a little.
“You’re incredibly, unbelievably… sweet.”
And there it was, the way his entire frame halted until I wasn’t sure if he was still breathing.
Still, I was smiling.
I was still smiling when his eyes narrowed and his brows lowered, when there was that unmistakable gleam of irritation evident in his gaze, even more evident when his hands moved away from his face and towards me, forcing me on my back as he leaned over me.
I was still smiling when he exposed his fangs at me, even when he looked crossed and menacing.
I was still smiling when I reached my hands up and touched his face with my fingertips. Calmly, as though touching him carelessly would cause him to vanish. I was still smiling when I murmured, “I adore you.”
I wasstillsmiling when all that irritation was knocked out of him. I was still smiling when his features softened—he tried so badly to not give in, but he did, and he frowned at that.
He was frowning and yet I wasstillsmiling.
“You always do that,” he said, still leaning over me and still a little out of my reach. Still a little too far.
My smile widened. “Do what?”
Eon gave me a light glare. “You know exactly what.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.” He exposed those fangs again, briefly this time to indicate that he was still not pleased. He lowered himself until he was hovering with his forearms on either side of my head, and I wasstillsmiling.
I closed my eyes and hummed, enjoying his closeness, his heartbeat, his warmth and his presence. I tugged his head closer with my hands, massaging my face against his. “Because I adore you.”
And he made a sound that was both frustrated and confused.
41
As I lay curled up in his big, heavy arms under the night sky, I said, “You’ve changed.”
