Page 46 of Storm of Ink and Blood

“What am I doing here? Why aren’t we in the forest?”

“I’ve been reading up on paramadhar,” he said. “I’ve learned how to control the visions.”

What. Shit why hadn’t she thought of that? She’d been too busy wallowing in the way he’d betrayed her, but this would have been a much better use of her time. If nothing, so she wouldn’t be prey to his mercy or his call.

The corner of her mouth curled up in a snarl, rage creeping to the surface. Who did he think he was?

“So you dragged me here? Against my will? What about the other night? Was that you, too?”

“It was.” The words were said simply. He wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t anything but confident.

“So, why didn’t you show yourself?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“I wasn’t sure if you were ready to see me, but I had to see you.”

Zarya narrowed her eyes. “You had no right to do that.”

He shrugged a shoulder. The insouciant gesture made her want to walk over there and wrap her hands around his neck. Except he’d probably like that. “You already hate me. What difference does it make?”

A growl built in her throat. “Because you lied to me. Remember that? I told you I didn’t want to see you.”

His hand tightened, tendons standing out on the surface, reminding her of the raw power contained within his massive frame. “I was planning to tell you everything, Zarya.”

“When? Before or after you delivered me to my father?”

His jaw clenched, his dark eyes flashing. “I was never planning to do that.”

She huffed. “You treated me like the plague for weeks. Then you turned around and wouldn’t stop pursuing me until I fucked you, all while you pretended to be someone else.”

He took a step forward, his shoulders curving towards her. “Why do you think I resisted you so hard?” he asked through clenched teeth. “That night, when I walked away from you, I was trying to do the honorable thing.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “So much for that.”

A muscle feathered in his clenched jaw. “Zarya. I swear to you that I had no idea who you were.”

She pressed herself against the window. “I don’t believe you.”

He spread his hands. “What was I supposed to say? Hey, no one really knows where I’ve been, but surprise, I was with your father, who apparently has been hunting you since before you were born?”

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, that’s exactly what you should have done.”

He took another step towards her, his dark eyes burning, his chest rumbling with a deep sound reminiscent of a wild animal.

“And then what? You would have told everyone. You would never have trusted me.”

“You don’t know what I would have done,” she hissed. “And you proved that I didn’t have any reason to trust you.”

The growl in his throat vibrated in the air between them. She tried to read the truth in his words. Was he being sincere? Or were these just more lies?

She wanted to believe him, but she’d already fallen for his silver tongue once. It was obvious he was very good at hiding things.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked, looking around the room, her gaze landing on the door as a hard pellet wedged between her ribs. Was her father there somewhere on the other side?

“Is this real?” she asked. “Where exactly are we?”

“It’s not real,” he said. “It’s a pocket dimension between worlds. One of us created the forest, and I created this.”

“I didn’t create the forest.”