Page 40 of Haunted Crowns
She turned and hit solid bark. A tree. Her heart slammed. Turning back, Kareon was in front of her now, a wall of heat and unspoken things. She had backed herself into a trap.
His hands braced the bark on either side of her head, not touching her, only caging her in. “When you ran,” he asked, “was it from them…” A pause, long enough to ache. “Or from me?”
Eris sucked in a breath but did not push him away. Not yet. She refused to flinch, to let him see her shudder. Instead, she lifted her chin, defiant.
“You think this is about you?” she scoffed. “Not everything is about you, Kareon.”
His golden eyes flickered with something dark and knowing. He was done pretending.
“This is.”
Her stomach dropped. A thread of knowing twisted beneath her ribs, something she did not want to name. It felt like a warning and a promise, suspended in the space between them.
She wanted to laugh, to deny it, to say something sharp and dismissive, but she said nothing. She remained where she was, caught in the gravity between them.
Kareon exhaled, slow and rough. “You feel it too,” he whispered.
His breath was warm against her skin. A shiver ran down her spine.
No. She did not.
Liar.
She needed to move. Her hands flexed, every muscle screaming to push him away, but she couldn’t. The air between them thickened, humming with tension. His presence tugged at her, magnetic and inescapable, and he felt it too. His golden eyes dropped to her lips. He leaned in, his mouth close enough for her to feel his breath but not to touch. His restraint trembled. He was waiting for her to close the last inch. And for a moment, she nearly did. Desire collided with fear. Fire tangled with dread. Then panic struck, like falling into something she could not control.
Air stalled in her throat. Her pulse thundered. His heat curled around her like a vice.
She had to move, to do something, anything. She shoved him. Hard.
Kareon barely staggered, but he let her go.
His golden eyes burned. “You can fight it all you want, but it won’t change what we are.”
Her breath caught. “And what is that?”
He paused, his voice dropping, certain. “Bound.”
The word sank into her like a brand. She wanted to laugh. Or scream. Instead, she snapped, “You think because you want something, that makes it fate?”
Kareon stilled. He was not angry. It was worse. He understood. “And you think because you love him, nothing else can exist.”
Her breath locked in her chest. The words hit harder than they should have, because he saw her. All of her.
“It doesn’t,” she said. “I love Stephan. Always have. That won’t change.”
He did not react, but something shifted in his shoulders. “Then why are you shaking?”
Her hands curled at her sides, fingers digging into her palms to keep from breaking. “Because you don’t listen.”
He stepped forward, close enough to feel, but still not touching. “Because I don’t believe lies.”
Her pulse surged. “You don’t get to decide how I feel.”
“Then say it.”
Her lungs seized. “Say what?”
“Say you feel nothing when I touch you,” he said, voice rough. “Say you didn’t want me to kiss you just now.”
