“She smelled like vanilla and cinnamon and winter,” I said, breathless just thinking about it. “Do you know what that does to me?”
“Yes,” K snapped. “That’s the problem.”
He moved closer, almost nose to nose, voice low with threat.
“She. Is. Not. Yours.”
I smiled sweetly.
“She’s not yours either.”
Dev whispered, “Please don’t.”
K’s fists clenched again—blood cracking over his knuckles—and for a second, I thought he’d hit me.
But he didn’t.
He just exhaled—slow, lethal—like he was holding the world in place by will alone.
“Ash,” he said, deadly calm, “if you go near her again without my permission, I will put you back in solitary myself.”
I grinned wider. “Try.”
Dev groaned. “We’re all going to die.”
Chapter 11
Seph
I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. Instead I found myself sitting on my desk just doodling, the rose lying in front of me.
At first I tried to sketch it, but my skills were lacking.
If I had my craft kit, I could have made a beaded image of it.
I fingered the bracelet on my wrist and remembered all the hours I had sat working on bracelets for Kieran and Sable, as if I could possibly ever give them something – anything – of myself.
It seemed so stupid now.
God, Kieran.
He was here. And it was like my heart had been ripped open all over again.
All I could think of was how much I used to love him. How I would live for those moments he could give me each day.
And how little it even meant to him.
I had made him a bracelet once. I had been so proud of it. I had managed to make a beaded lightning bolt. It had taken me days.
And then I had walked in to give to him. To surprise him.
Only to find him with Sable.
What a joke.
I couldn’t even be mad about it. It made sense. They were both so beautiful. They looked good together.
It’s not like he ever knew. I didn’t tell them.
