“I’m focusing just fine,” she snaps back. “You’re the one who’s being an extra-special asshole.”
I lean in close and whisper. “Maybe you’d be doing better if you hadn’t worn yourself out fucking three men at once.”
Her face goes slack with shock, then flushes. She’s angry. “Don’t you fucking dare try to shame me, you bastard. What I do, and who I do it with, are none of your business.”
“It became my business when I had to feel every second of it. When their hands were all over what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours,” she spits, shoving me back. “The blood mark doesn’t make me your property.”
I grab her wrist, fingers circling the spot where the mark pulses beneath her sleeve. “Doesn’t it? Your power flows through me. Your pleasure. Your pain. All of it, mine to feel.”
“Let go of me.”
“Make me.”
Magic surges between us, gold and black intertwining. Her power pushes against mine, seeking weaknesses, finding none. We stand locked in this position, neither giving an inch, until suddenly she does something unexpected.
She stops fighting.
Her magic recedes, and she looks up at me with eyes too perceptive for comfort. “You’re jealous,” she says quietly.
The words hit like a physical blow. “Don’t be fucking ridiculous.”
“You are.” She tilts her head. “You’re jealous because I was with them instead of you.”
I release her wrist like it burns me. “I don’t care who you spread your legs for.”
“Liar.” She doesn’t back away. “I can feel it, you know. Through the mark. It goes both ways, remember?”
I take a step back. “Don’t flatter yourself,” I say, but the words are hollow.
Rose steps closer, invading my space now. “You’re not as mysterious as you think you are, Ash.”
I turn away, unable to meet her eyes. “We’re done for tonight.”
“No, we’re not.” She grabs my arm, forcing me to face her. “You don’t get to push me to my limits, say horrible things to me, and then just walk away when I call you on your bullshit.”
“What do you want from me, Rose?” The question erupts from somewhere deep, somewhere I don’t usually allow myself to access.
Her expression softens. “I want you to be honest. For once.”
“Honest about what?” But I know. Of course I know.
“About why you’re really upset.” She doesn’t look away. “It’s not just about the blood mark, or your control over my magic, or even the guys. It’s about me.”
The silence stretches between us, with only the sound of snow falling off branches disturbing it.
“It must hurt. To want someone and not be able to have them. To know that they are with other people.”
Her understanding is worse than her judgment would have been. I didn’t come here to be pitied.
“Don’t,” I warn. “Don’t pretend you understand me.”
“I’m not pretending.” She reaches for my face, her fingers stopping just short of my skin. “But lashing out at me isn’t going to change anything.”
I catch her wrist before she can touch me. “And what would change things, Rose? What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know.” She doesn’t try to pull away. “But this isn’t working.”
