Page 55 of Our Covenant

“Do you want to tell me your side of that story?” I start, finding confidence in her vulnerability.

She nods then sighs. “There’s no magic in my necklace. It’s a family heirloom, that’s all.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She shifts on her feet. “I found Fox in the study.” A blush spreads over her exposed skin, from head to bare toes. “Things got heated.”

“He hurt you?” Fox can be rough but it’s always been consensual, but with the way her presence has affected us, my stomach sinks as I home in on the bruises on her arms. They look too dark to be fresh, and relief sweeps over me when she confirms.

“No,” she snaps, but is that a hint of disappointment? “I asked him a few questions and one thing led to another.”

Heat floods my chest. I’ve seen Fox with women dozens of times, but I can’t remember the last hookup he had outside of the rituals. And something about that fact gives me cause to worry.

“I don’t know what I did to freak him out but he . . . Well, he won’t look at me now.”

What she’s refusing to admit is that she sees Fox as her lifeline. There’s an unspoken promise between them that gave her faith that we wouldn’t hurt her, but after their tryst in the library, that thread between them is frayed. I don’t blame her for expecting Thorne or Asher to kill her. In vain, I’ve been keeping my distance more for the sake of her life, not mine.

“It’s not like I want to be pen pals after this, but he was the only one of you that didn’t hate me.”

“Fox is terrible at keeping up with correspondence. But I think we both know that no one in this house hates you,” I admit, letting my shoulders relax just a little.

“You don’t?”

I shake my head slowly. “It’s not the first time a woman has shown interest in me but preferred one of the others. You get used to it.”

That admission is one I haven’t said out loud to anyone and I immediately regret it.

“It’s not like that. You just seemed . . .”

“Scared?”

“Upset,” she corrects. “But you’re not now.”

“Far from it.”

Letting off some magic pressure has calmed me, but the surge of something darker is filling that void. When we first met, she had the unfair advantage. Unfortunately for her, this time I do. The loud chorus of my anxiety and fear subsided when I surrendered to my nature at the Moreys’ manor. And the temptation to unleash my full power onto Elsbeth is lurking in a shadowed recess of my soul—a threat of liberation that I’ve never let myself indulge in.

“Why did you use that charm at the coffee shop?” I take a step closer, then another when I realize I can. “Why not try to seduce me like you did Thorne?”

“You and Fox were the hardest to nail down. Fox rarely leaves here.” She lowers her eyes to the floor and kicks at a small clump of dust with a bare foot. “And I didn’t think you’d notice me otherwise.”

She’s lying. I can feel it in the cadence of her voice. Tendrils of mockery and flirtation wind together to mask the fire she had for us last night. It makes my skin crawl to hear her faux fawning.

“What did Fox tell you about us?” I continue, taking another gobbling step and boxing her into the counter with my torso. “It must have been good if you decided to rub one out on his knee. Or was it his thigh?”

Her teeth click as her jaw shuts tight. The rage in her eyes comes back to life and I’m rewarded with, “Fuck you.”

I lean down, plant my hands on either side of her on the counter, and level my eyes with hers. “That’s part of your plan, right? Fuck us all in turn? Pitch us against each other until we fight for your honor?”

She doesn’t answer but her body tenses.

“I can see it now.” I straighten my spine without removing my hands from her cage. “The four of us lust drunk, beating the living shit out of each other as you watch. Waiting for the last of us to fall at your feet. Then what? You’ll finally show what you can really do?”

“I don’t⁠—”

“Know what I’m talking about?” I finish for her. “Asher texted to tell me that you’d made eyes at him in the pool. Now Fox and Thorne are fighting.” I could feel my temper rising. “And we both know that your spell the other day was to get under my skin or else you would have hidden that charm. I am not so broken that I can’t see when I’m being manipulated.”

My stomach churns as she pushes at my unwavering chest. But she meets my fury with her own. “You’re just as bad as Thorne. Jealous that I didn’t offer my pussy up to you the second you looked at me.”