Page 95 of Sorrow & Strangers

Summer shivers, her breath shallow. She can’t help but react to me. No matter what lies she tells herself, she feels the connection between us. It’s undeniable and oppressive.

“You know exactly why . . .” I murmur, dragging my nose along the pointed tip of her ear.

She gasps and arches, pressing herself against me. My body ignites, but it’s not enough. I want more, more of her, more of her touch, more of her taste. I dart my tongue out, flicking it over the sensitive tip of her ear. I’m getting carried away. The only reason I have even a tenuous control over myself is the fact that my avatar prevents me from fully feeling her against me. The warmth of her body, her scent, and the feel of her are all muted.

“I should walk you home,” I groan, pulling back.

She clears her throat and looks away, a flush rising in her cheeks. “No,” she says, ducking beneath my arm, slipping from the shelter of my body. “Goodbye, Stranger.”

I grab her arm, my eyes narrowed. “Why do you do that?” I ask, tightening my hold and pulling her to me. “Why do you pretend still? Pretend there is nothing between us?”

She glares at me, retreating into her defiance. “There is nothing between us.”

The words slash at me like shattered glass.

“There is everything between us,” I hiss through clenched teeth.

She shakes her head, tugging hard at her arm, but I only tighten my hold.

“Don’t bother denying it,” I snarl, tightening my hold on her. I know I am bruising her, and the darkness inside me that craves her in the most brutal way loves that I have left another mark on her. “Your first and last breath are mine. I am your beginning and your end. It has always been this way, and it will always be this way.”

“You will never be Summer Morningstar,” she snarls at me, her lips curled back from her teeth.

Something close to regret slashes me, but it’s eclipsed by my anger.

“Do you enjoy hurling that at me? Like I had some hand in his death? As if I wished that upon you?”

The only part I played in his death was my absence. I allowed my own foolish pride to keep me so far from her that I was too late to save her from the agony of that loss.

“You did.” Her eyes mist with angry tears. “Enjoy him while I allow it. Did you celebrate when you heard about his death? ’Cause you certainly kept your distance from me.”

She wanted to see me? I thought . . .

“Do you mean celebrating by wiping that sect of fanatics from the realms? Because I did enjoy hearing them scream for mercy, knowing I’d never grant it to them. I let you mourn because I knew you were devastated at his loss, and I figured I’d be the last person you’d want to see.”

“How did you feel when you heard about his death?” she demands.

“Enraged,” I say immediately, and lock eyes with her, hoping she can sense my sincerity.

“Liar.”

“Out of the two of us, you are the liar.”

She tries to yank her arm from my grip again, but I refuse to release her. “Tell me how you felt when you found out that my fiancé was dead. That the male I was going to marry in a few short months was no longer alive. That I was no longer engaged.”

Why the obsession with this?

“I have lost everyone. I would never wish that agony on you. Anyone but you.”

Those words are the absolute truth, but they fall on closed ears.

“You got your wish, Stranger. I’ll never be Summer Morningstar.”

I want to shake her, anything to make her listen to me. “Because he was not the one for you! You would never have made it down the aisle. We both know that.”

“You know nothing about me,” she snarls, yanking her arm from my grip.

“I know you cry in your sleep,” I growl. “You dream of forests from realms long since lost.”