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When she tried to respond, the question on her lips was much harder to ask than she had anticipated. "And what's to say I won't hurt you?"
But before she could swim away, he grabbed her arm and turned her toward him. Graeson stared down at her. His height granted him the ability to stand while Kallie had to pump her arms and legs in the water.
"Don't you dare turn away from me. Not again."
"You know I didn't choose to do that," she spat.
"No, but this time you are."
He stared at her, and she stared back. She knew she should turn around, swim away from him. That responding to him and continuing to play this game would lead to nothing good. But her body wouldn't let her.
She looked into those pools of glistening silver. "So, let me have the choice that I had taken from me then.”
Graeson flinched, but he did not speak. He let the silence bubble between them.
He was letting her make her choice.
However, as he presented her with the option, she didn't know what she wanted. When she searched within herself, her mind was split in two. She knew what sheshoulddo, what sheneededto do. But still, she didn't know what shewantedto do.
And as she remained there, Graeson made one last effort to persuade her. "Fine. But let me ask you this: don't you feel it?"
Kallie tilted her head. "Feel what?"
His eyes lifted to hers. "The pull between us."
Kallie huffed. What he said was nonsense. The only thing pulling them together was the water. While this place was intoxicating and she probably hadn't recovered from whatever happened in the cave, it was nothing more than the springs playing with them. The gods' lives were not simple, nor were theirs. It was a cruel joke.
Kallie looked around her. "I think you're letting this place trick you."
He groaned in frustration, and a small smile tried to form as she watched his frustration bloom, but she shoved it down.
"It's not just the water, and you know it, Kallie."
The feeling of heavy sand beneath her feet caused Kallie to inhale. She let the top of her toes rest on the sand as she used her arms to balance herself.
Graeson minimized the space between them, but Kallie pressed her palms against his chest, keeping him at bay. Yet as her hands touched his skin beneath the water and his muscles flexed at her touch, she questioned why she was trying to keep him away.
It would be much easier to let him in. This game they were playing was dangerous. And while she was in denial about many things, she knew deep down that that is what they had been doing the past few weeks—playing a game of cat and mouse. It was only going to make it harder for her to ensure her victory in the end.
And they were nowhere near the end.
He placed a hand over hers. "Stop pretending it isn't there. You've felt it since we found each other again. Just like I did."
She couldn't deny that she had felt something there. And despite the anger she still felt toward him—for taking advantage of her when she was at her weakest—it was undeniable that she had been the one to kiss him first. That he had been the one to pull away, not her.
Even though she may not have been able to deny it to herself, she didn't have to be honest with him. "I don't—"
"Kalisandre." His voice was deep and husky, his silver eyes darkened turning to steel. His hands slid to her waist beneath the water. And the sound of her name on lips was her undoing.
She closed her eyes. Her heart squeezed together, and her lungs tightened. She didn't believe that the water wasn't affecting her mind, her body, and whatever connection pulled them together. But she also didn't believe that it was completely made up either. Because when she looked at him—when shereallylooked at him, she couldn't deny the attraction she felt toward him. The way his wet hair fell across his face, the way water dripped down his skin. The way his skin felt against her hands as she slid them toward the back of his neck. She had felt lust before and she told herself it was nothing more than that.
And when she saw the desire in his eyes, she knew it wasn't a desire she had placed there like she had for her other marks. Nor was it desire for her crown—
She inhaled sharply and jerked her head back.
King Rian.
She pushed him back. "I can't."
