Page 8 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

“And you touched him back?”

My eyes drew shut. “Yes.”

He stepped closer to me, seizing what little air was left around me, his chest brushing against my back when he leaned to murmur in my ear. “I thought I’d taught you to lie better.”

Was it entertaining to him? Was it funny to him that I craved to be happy to the point of madness? “I might have not loved him, nor cared for him, nor let him touch me or even touched him back, yet he would have gotten everything.” Turning to him, I said, “Me and everything that came with being his.” I pushed the dress off my shoulders, pulling one arm at a time until I was left in only a thin lacy white bra that Erik had gifted me. “I would have lied about loving him so perfectly, Malik, so utterly perfect. I would have put on my best show and made him the happiest man there is. Without loving, caring, touching him. He would have gone insane from happiness. I would have made it so. Because I wanted him to. I was going to give him everything. Make him my everything.” Tilting my head back to look at him, I asked, “Was that a lie?”

He didn’t answer me.

He was so silent all of a sudden.

Perhaps he’d always been like that.

I’d always been the one to never stop talking. Maybe I’d been the one to fill whatever void he created between us. So desperately to the point I’d made a fool out of myself.

“If you’re quite done, leave.”

Like a wolf looking at a strange prey for the first time, his head tilted to the side. “Are you happy, Thora?”

No matter how hard I swallowed, that lump of discomfort remained in my throat, and my voice came out too small and too broken when I replied, “Delirious.” Just for him, I forced myself to smile. “Hope fate has not been as kind to you.”

He chuckled, eyes raking over my blood-stained dress still hooked around my waist and the lace bra that was more lace than bra. “Heartbroken to upset you, little bird, but I’ve never been happier.”

“How disappointing.”

“I’ll grow back on you.”

“Like thorns and barbed wire. As always. Suffocating anything near you.”

“I knew you’d turn around.” He backed towards the door, eyes never leaving mine. “You looked hideous today.”

“Flattered. Truly.”

“Preposterous, actually, since you’re fishing for compliments.”

“Still very glad we repulse one another.”

He pointed to my dress. “Put that back on and let’s put you in front of a boiling cauldron and I’m hard as a rock.”

It had been a while since anyone spoke to me as he did without consequence, so I just stood there gaping at him. At the audacity of him.

He found my reaction funny because he laughed. “Seems the Isjordian boy has been all soft on you.” His smile was cruel. “But let’s not speak ill of the dead.”

“I’ve spoken ill of you every day.”

“You’ve thought of me every day?” He grinned as he backed towards the door, the shadows sliding off the walls and sinking into the rest of the room. “Don’t think about me too hard. And don’t think about murdering me in my sleep. Rain and Sam are having a sleepover tonight.”

“There is always tomorrow.”

“There is. Dying tomorrow seems good.”

“I’ll prepare the decree.”

“You do that, little bird.”

“Don’t call me that,” I said, and he hissed when the door handle froze under his hold.

Blowing on his hand, he made a show to bow widely. “Yes, Your Majesty.”