Page 67 of The Shadow Sanctum

He lets go of my jaw to run the back of his finger up one side of the bone, following it all the way to my ear. “Look at the tension in your jaw. You see that?”

I shift my weight while studying the area. After a few moments, I nod.

“Your lips are tight and pulled in slightly. I bet you’ve got your tongue pressed against the back of your teeth.”

As if he snapped his fingers to make it so, I feel the tension in my lips. The pressure of my tongue against my teeth. I unclench my jaw and try to relax. Though, I’m not really sure why, and it doesn’t work.

Sawyer’s hand slides down my neck and rests on my chest. It feels heavy. Suffocating. Each of my breaths raises his hand only for it to overpower my lungs once again.

“Your breaths are even but deep. You feel that?”

Again, I nod.

“This is what you look like when you’re afraid.”

My gaze breaks to him in the mirror, and he looks back at me with full, serious eyes. Firm—like this is important.

I wait for him to continue.

“You’re tough, Luna… You’re really tough. And you can be ruthless. And outwardly cold. And truthfully, a bit of a frigid bitch.”

My throat pangs, and my shoulders ache to pull in at the comment. My attention darts to my nakedness and the chill that spreads over my skin, but Sawyer continues before I can react.

“But you are not unfeeling.”

He untangles his hand from mine and runs it up my arm.

“You’re strong and you’re smart and you’re tough, but more than anything, you’re human. You feel fear and pain and desire and grief just like the rest of us.”

Reaching my shoulder, he pulls me against his chest and takes in my face, leading me to do the same.

“You want to feel pretty, and you want to feel loved—desired. You want people to respect you. You want them to like you. You want all the same things that everyone else wants. Do you know why?”

Teeth nibbling on the inside of my lip, I don’t respond.

“Because you’re a person… You’re just a person, Luna. Not an albino. Not a demon. There’s nothing wrong with your soul. There’s no heart missing from your chest.”

His breath kisses my shoulder as he lets it rush out of him. I shiver.

“When I look at you, I see beauty of the highest order. I see perfection. If you feel differently, it’s because everyone feels inadequate… It’s not gonna kill you to look in a mirror when you brush your teeth.”

My eyes close.

But not to hide from him. Now, in this moment, I understand that there is no hiding from Sawyer.

As his voice rings heavy in my mind, he slides his palm down my sternum, warm and deliberate, until his fingers hook under my chin and tilt me back toward the glass.

“Eyes open, pretty girl,” he murmurs, low enough to buzz against my spine. “You don’t get to hide from Daddy.”

The word hits like a jolt. It makes my spine stiff, my hands curl.

It’s wrong. Disgusting. Deplorable.

And yet…

My lashes lift. Sawyer watches me in the mirror, his gaze steady, shameless. Waiting for me to make a move. Tell him in unspoken words what it is I want. With the question of just how fucked up I am hanging in the air.

As if either of us knows the answer.