Page 61

She hesitated. Her throat constricted. With slow care, she stepped around him, breath tight in her chest. Her fingers brushed the doorframe. She held her breath as she nudged the door open.

Lysander stirred, the faint flex of his fingers.

Her pulse roared in her ears. She waited, unmoving. Then nothing, stillness again.

She slipped one foot through the doorway, then her body. Her hand wrapped around the front doorknob.

A hand clamped down over her mouth.

The grip was firm, unyielding, another arm coiling around her waist and yanking her back. Her heels scraped against the floorboards, the motion too sudden for thought.

She bit down, hard.

His hiss of pain was a curse against her cheek. His low growl vibrated from his chest into her spine.

He spun her, pinning her against the wall beside the door, the impact rattling through her spine, knocking the air from her lungs.

His hand dropped from her mouth. Neither moved.

Deep shadow cast over his face, but his fury undeniable.

“I told you I was faster,” he said, breath hot against her face.

Idonea thrashed against him, her palms pressing hard against his chest, but his weight didn’t budge. The wall bit into her spine. His hands caught her shoulders, firm enough to bruise.

Her pulse stuttered. She wanted to wrench away, to shout, but the words caught in her throat.

She forced herself to meet his eyes. But her body betrayed her, every nerve sparking beneath his grip. His heartbeat thudded where his chest met hers.

“Curse you!” She swallowed hard, defiance flickering despite the tremor in her limbs.

His fingers flexed against her shoulders, holding her there, not rough but unyielding. “You think I want you caged here?” he said. “You can’t step out that door. You’d make it worse.”

Her own chest ached and his nearness blurred the world down to heat and heartbeat.

“Let me go,” she whispered.

Lysander’s eyes flicked downward to her mouth. The shift was barely there, but it lit a spark beneath her skin. Her stomach twisted. Her throat went dry. Don’t you dare.

Her body didn’t listen. Her lips parted, the breath that escaped caught on his. The thought that followed was sharp and senseless: if he kissed me, I might let him.

Horror flooded in after. She hated herself for it. Hated the tremor in her limbs, the burn in her chest.

Lysander’s jaw tightened. He tore his gaze away first.

“Let me show you something.”

She blinked up at him. “What?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He stepped back, his hands falling from her shoulders. The sudden distance jarred her.

Idonea, still breathless, adjusted her glasses with shaking fingers. Her heart wasn’t calm, and her skin tingled where he’d held her.

He moved over to the dining table. “You’ll see.”

Her eyes slid back to the front door, but he pushed the table aside. He lifted the rug and revealed the hatch door.

Her eyebrows shot up. Lysander knew about the hatch, the same hatch Kitsa had used.