Page 112 of Sands of Atonement

“I did not want to see you hurt.”

Her eyes glistened. It felt as if my stomach had just received a blow. I swallowed a lie and decided to tell her the truth.

“I liked that you needed me.”

Eshe stopped pulling her arm and met my eyes.

They slit through my soul, and I attempted to close off any emotion she might see.

“Why?” she breathed.

“Hey! What’s taking so long?” Casimir shouted from the back of the room.

I looked behind to Casimir, but Eshe took that moment to slip from my grip and hurried out of the room.

I didn’t chase after her. If she wanted to go completely out of her mind and get incredibly high on endorphins, then that was on her.

Burning the venom out of the saliva of the snake created the Lover’s Bite, but without the bite. It was ridiculous and childish.

I walked out into another barely lit room where I planned to sleep on the couch, far away from these childlike games, but most importantly, far away from where Eshe would be sleeping tonight.

I needed to give my nerves a break.

Chapter 28

Eshe

When I came back into the smoke-filled room from retrieving Ezra’s bag, he was gone.

A sensation dropped in my stomach.

“Do you have it, love?” Casimir quirked a brow.

I nodded and slipped my hand into Ezra’s bag, my fingers wrapping around the cool, rubbery skin. I gave Casimir what he wanted. Yven by his side, watching every move he made with observant eyes as he opened the mouth of the snake.

Norrah sat on one of the low couches, patting the seat next to her. I cuddled up next to her and right away felt nostalgic for our days in the Khraus, when we were exhausted from dancing. After a moment, I lifted myself from her.

“I met Gabriel.”

Her lips parted. “What?” It was barely a whisper.

“Yes…”

“Wait, how? What did he say? Or did he say anything?” Her eyes widened.

“He was definitely looking for you.” I gave her a sad smile. “He didn’t know I knew you, obviously.”

I felt her shudder, but I nudged her, trying to keep the topic light, and said, “I know he’s quite older than you. But I didn’t know you were running away from such a terrifyingly handsome man.”

I knew from the looks of it that Gabriel was most likely in his mid-thirties and Norrah was twenty-two.

A tinge of pink spotted her ear, and she swallowed. “I just can’t—I can’t. I barely know him, and he’s so—so… cold. Something about him alarms me. My father sold me off to the first wealthy man who proposed.”

“Did you know this was happening?”

“My father waited as long as he could. He had been patient, but I knew this year it was getting stretched thin… With me being twenty-one and all, he said I’m getting old.” She looked at me with glistening eyes. “I just couldn’t give up the little freedom I had… My entire life, I’ve survived with feeling—I feel strongly about things in my bones.” She licked her lips. “When I met him, he was so… unfeeling. And frightening.”

Her eyes went distant, and I felt a tug in my chest. I knew exactly what she meant.