“Home. Where else? I’m not some great mage who deserves to be on the Council.”
“Zahara doesn’t get things wrong. If she says that’s the power you’re coming into, then it is.”
Not listening.
Okay, so she may be a little childish right now. Okay, a lot. But she was terrified of what this would mean, and she didn’t understand any of it. Not the flames. Not the Chaos Realm or how she could get there, none of it. And not understanding made her very nervous. Feeling nervous pissed her off. Kalinda needed space, her own four walls, and some way to get this all off her mind.
She needed to bake thirty cakes and maybe a thousand cookies. Whatever.
Romano moved with her when she tried to go around him. “For now, you are home. Go have some rest and then we can think about what Zahara has told us. If she needs to come again, we can get her out here.”
T-minus ten seconds and counting.
“Get out of my way and let me go.”
“Can’t. Been told I have glue on my hands. Sort of makes things stick. Want me to show you how fun that can be?”
T-minus nine seconds.
“We’re going to head out. Call if you need anything.” Zoey had the nerve to wave her fingers over her shoulder before Dominic ushered her out. The woman wanted to die.
T-minus eight seconds.
“Maybe we can enjoy the soup you made. Are you hungry?”
“No, I’m not. I want a big, hulking brute to get out of my way.”
“Oh, big and hulking. You say the sweetest things and I haven’t even shown you the biggest part yet.”
He wants to die. I know it. T-minus seven seconds. Six, five, four …
She jerked her knee up, fed up and wanting to get out desperately. Her chest tightened and a knot formed in her throat. She was losing it, twisting and turning down fear. Control. She needed it. Had to have it. Without it, things got lost.
“Not happening, sweetheart.”
“I am not your sweetheart.”
Three, two, one …
One minute, her arms were laden with her items, and the next, everything crashed to the floor. She didn’t understand it, but she was flying off the handle, leaping at Romano in a fit to get out and be free. The door was so close and yet so far.
“Easy there. I got you. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
It didn’t matter. She wanted out. To escape, to compartmentalize so she could regain some semblance of who she was. She panted, trying to suck in deeper breaths, but it was like using a coffee straw.
“Come here.”
Romano took her into his arms again, carrying her away from the carnage in his living room and past the guest room. In a few more steps, he kicked open a door to a large, darkened room. She caught a glimpse of deep mahogany and crimson that blurred together moments before she flopped down on a bed.
The door slammed shut, closing them in, and she scrambled back on the bed away from him. He didn’t let her go far, gripping her ankle and yanking her down to the end of the bed. It was just like in the Chaos Realm, when Zahara had given her something to hold on to, and she couldn’t help the sense of calm that came over her, a momentary peace.
“Tell me what you need. What I saw a moment ago was panic, and I understand panic,” he whispered.
His voice was so much more because he didn’t speak loudly. He hovered over her, his weight just inches away, his mouth closing in on hers.
“Tell me what you really need and I’ll give it to you. But leaving when you know it isn’t safe isn’t a decision the Kalinda I know would make.”
Romano’s lips danced over hers with each word—a taunt, a promise. She found herself mesmerized, her breathing slowing to match his. He never looked away from her. It was one of the most intimate moments she’d ever had without a single stich of clothing being gone. He saw her and asked her what she needed.
