Almost followed you over that waterfall—more than once.
“Yes, Milaje?”
The words won’t come out. They’re lodged so deep in my throat I’m certain the only way to force them free will be to vomit them up.
He’s here.
He’s not dead.
A vine of relief sprouts from the fleshy mess of my mashed-up heart, its tip perfectly honed, like the needle I used every night to prick the tip of my finger. It dips and weaves about the staggering organ, threading through all the broken bits, tugging the torn edges toward each other like it’s trying to stitch me whole again.
Tears stream down my cheeks as I weave my hand out from the crush of us and trace the flexing might of his strong arm, all the way to his hand still pressed upon my heart—
He shoves away so fast I crumble, spinning. My legs fail me, and I careen sideways, then lose my balance and fall back into the sand, landing hard on my ass.
Rhordyn stands over me like a storm wrestled straight from the sky, molded into a man.
A monster.
His eyes are black, ears sharp, features so cut and refined I’m convinced he was sculpted by the Gods themselves. That they hewed him from the deepest, darkest corners of the universe.
Looking at him makes me want to fall to my knees and weep.
He’s here. He’s really here.
He reaches behind himself and rips the talon from where it must have been stuffed down the back of his pants. My heart slams against my ribs as he sends it thudding into the sand beside me, that curved length glinting in the sunlight.
He watches me with the focus of a hunter fixated on his prey. “Pick it up.”
My breaths become staggered, fumbled things …
There’s no feeling in his tone—a cold-blooded challenge that ices me to the core.
“N-no,” I sputter, feeling what’s left of my heart mulch through his clenched fist.
“PICK. IT. UP!” he roars, and I sob, scrambling back. Managing to clamber to my feet while still maintaining his eye contact.
He retrieves the talon and stalks every step I scurry backward through the sand, his stare a savage blend of unflinching determination and frosty condemnation.
I realize, like a stone clipping me in the skull, that he’s been masking so much of himself since the start. I’m but a mouse dangling by my tail before his fathomless might. Waiting for him to pounce and gobble me down.
My wild emotions shift amidst my cramped insides, abrading my most tender parts.
Battling for space.
For air.
“It was a mistake,” I blurt, scurrying over fallen fronds and shards of coconut husk. “I— I thought you were a—”
“Monster? I am.”
“—murderer.”
“Also correct,” he bites out, like he tore the words from a carcass and spat them at me.
“I thought you fed onpeople!”
There’s the faintest softening of his eyes. “Only one. Now and forever.”
