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“You left me,” my voice was hoarse from days of neglect. I repeated myself, unsure if he could have made sense of the scratchy words. “You left me… alone.”
“Did you miss me?” Faenir did not lower his stare although it seemed that he winced ever so slightly.
“Not in the sense you would hope for.” I longed for the soft curve of the knife in my hand.
“My leaving you was a lapse in my judgement.”
“Why?” The single worded question snapped out of me.
“I believed you would prefer my absence after everything that has happened.”
Day’s worth of aggression came flooding out of me at once. My weak, tired legs paced the room until I was inches before him. Faenir did little but move his knees apart, allowing me to get closer. I didn’t notice this at first, for my gaze was solely on his, not on the way his body moved gently, or how his hands gripped the sheets for support… or comfort.
“If you wish to leave me then I beg you to take me home. Take me anywhere from here, just do not leave me again.” I spoke so quickly that I was not truly in control of the words that came out of my mouth, nor the way I said it.
“Do not be concerned,” Faenir muttered quietly, so much in fact that the beating of my heart did well to drown out his words. If I was not watching his lips, I would have missed what he said.
“I have no desire to leave your side again… Arlo.”
Faenir shifted forward, moving his placement until he sat upon the very edge of the bed. I looked down at him, breathing laboured and face flushed red, as he regarded me from his seat.
“Where…” I felt stupid for asking but I wished to know. “Where did youhide?”
“I have found that the shadows provide the greatest solitude when wishing to escape.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I said, catching the glint of the knife I had taken from the dining chamber all those days ago. Faenir had moved it from the place I had left it upon my bed, to the oaken side table beside it. He caught me looking but did not make a move to reach for it.
“I was far enough away for you to have time from me, but close enough that I could stop you from doing anything untoward. I admit… time fell away from me. I would not have wished to stay away for so long, but I had believed you made your thoughts clear on our proximity when you shattered my nose.”
Was that a smile I caught? A smirk in jest or teasing? Either way I wished to wipe it clean from his face and demand he never raised his lips to me again. “And if you wish to keep your face unmarred then you best tell me what it is you want from me.”
“The same as my family wants from their mates.”
I caught the retort from leaving me by gritting my teeth into my tongue.I am not your mate!The scream echoed in my mind. “Then what doyourkindwant from the humans?”
Perhaps if I knew why they took us, it would lead to the answer of how we could get home.
Faenir sighed, turning his face away from me, his raven black hair ruffled as though moved by a hidden breeze. “There is so much to say, I fear I do not know where to begin.”
“Start with me. You left Tithe without a Chosen, but you came back.”
His demeanour changed within a breath, turning back to look at me with eyes brimming full of desire. “All my life I have killed just by touching another. I had grown used to taking the glow of life from another as though it was as natural as taking a breath. Not a single person has ever survived my touch.”
His deep voice vibrated through me.
“Until me.”
Faenir stood then, forcing me back a step to allow him room. It was so sudden that I almost tripped over my footing. “You are smarter than I gaveyour kindcredit for.”
He mimicked the insult I had not long shared. His slight grin brightened until teeth shone through parted lips. Faenir’s smile lasted only a moment as I reached out for him.
My hand wavered in the air beside his face. I let every part of Faenir stiffen. He looked beyond me as though I did not stand before him at all. However, his entire focus was on me, even if he did not truly look.
“You took me from my home because I am the first person who will not die when you touch them,” I repeated, fingers inching closer to the carved structure of his cheekbone. “You came back for me. Ripped me from my life… and for what?”
Faenir exhaled a quivering breath, eyes flicking towards the tips of my fingers as they edged closer to his skin.
“The stench of desperation is ripe on you,Faenir.”
