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Her gaze met his bright blue eyes, and she ignored the fact that they were the most beautiful, otherworldly ones she’d ever seen. Like every other blasted feature on him. “I made it back at the village, then burned it when I first arrived here since I was unable to do it at the bonfire.” She grinned, baring all her teeth.
He blinked, studying her for a long moment before he chuckled and shifted closer to her, his spicy scent caressing her nose. Lovely and intoxicating. But a warm smell and a sculpted face wouldn’t hide a dark and brutal heart.
Morozko took the doll from her hands, his fingers brushing hersintentionally, and she narrowed her eyes.
“You can’t just take things from me,” she grumbled. “Haven’t you done that enough?”
Ignoring her, he grunted as he rolled it over. “It looks nothing like me.”
“I’m not finished yet.” Eirah ripped it back from him, then grabbed another brush to paint the doll’s hair white. But her hand stalled when she could feel him watching her again. “Yes?” she said without looking at him.
“Why do you make these… toys?”
Eirah halted her movements and faced him as he relaxed against the bed, his arm propped on his knee while the other leg was straightened. “Why do we do anything?” she started. “My father is a toymaker, and ever since I was small, I helped him make things not only for our village, but for the frost demon villages as well. I specialize in music boxes, but I like creating darker dolls for myself when I’m not doing tasks for customers.”
Morozko cocked his head, seeming to mull something over. “You’re the toymaker they talk about? The one who makes the music boxes?”
“You’ve heard about them?”
“A maiden I took to bed brought one as a gift. It played the loveliest tune as we pleasured one another through the night.” His predator’s gaze remained on her, even as a slow, wicked smile tugged at his lips.
“Bah!” She waved a hand in the air. “I don’t want to hear about your dalliances.”
“Envious?” he cooed.
“I’d rather kiss a sheep.” She’d rather keep her maidenhead until she was dead, too, but he didn’t need to know she hadn’t ever taken a lover, or she would never hear the end of it from him.
“Would you now?” Morozko inched closer, and she held her ground, not backing down. “You have a beautiful neck,” he whispered in her ear.
She rolled her eyes. “Is that how you get maidens in bed? By telling them how theirnecklooks?”
“So, it’s poetry you seek.” He ran the tip of his warm finger up the curve of her neck. A delicious shiver ran up her spine, and dare she say, shelikedit. “Sleek and silken to the touch. I could glide my tongue up it, see what you taste like.”
Her eyes fluttered, and she stood, crossing her arms over her chest as he chuckled. Laughed at the game he knew he was playing. The bastard.
“Just leave me alone until you decide my time here is done. I’m getting sick of these games. They aren’t amusing. They’re cruel.” A sick feeling crept through her again, as though her blood was heating inside her veins like it had earlier. The room started to spin, and she needed fresh air, to get away from him.
His expression remained neutral, and he didn’t say anything when she turned away from him to go outside.
The breeze blew against her skin as she tightened her grip on the rail. Even though she was out in the cold, her skin felt on fire. The longer she stood, the more she weakened and needed to lie down. She backed away from the rail to go inside, her body swaying. The white world grew hazy, and her knees buckled before she collapsed to the ground.
The door burst open, and Morozko was there, lifting her into his arms. She didn’t have the strength to break free of him.
“What are you doing?” he spat. “Trying to get yourself killed?”
“Ifell. I thought it would be a wonderful day to hit the ground, don’t you agree?” she rasped.
“You’re not well, are you?”
Was he a fool? Of course she wasn’t. “It’s because of yourblood.”
He frowned. “You shouldn’t still be having symptoms.”
“I suppose they come and go,” she said, wiggling in his grasp. “Put me down. I can stand.”
Morozko lowered her to her feet, and as soon as his fingertips left her waist, she collided with his chest. In an instant, she was off the floor once more, her body nestled into him.
“Put me down!” she hissed as exhaustion coursed through her.
