Page 80 of Tethered Fates
“I’m not scared to die—”
“I am terrified of you dying!” I cry out, enraged. “Teagan, there is nothing in this world that brings me greater fear.”
His small body shakes, his dark gaze pinning me. “Do the others know?”
“They do.”
He climbs out of my lap, and I hate myself for breaking our peace. “Gather everyone; we’re going to sort this out. You are not going to sacrifice yourself like a fucking moron. I don’t want it, or need it. There’s fucking magic all over the place, right? So, if you’re seriously not even going to try to find another way, then you’re not as interesting as I thought you were.”
My lip twitches, and I nod. Standing. “Okay, Teagan. Okay.”
“Let’s go. I’m going to dress you and do your hair.”
“Because I’m not being interesting?” I ask, loving him so completely that my shattered heart heals.
“Yeah,” he says as he walks into the penthouse. “But also because I’ve wanted to since the moment we met.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven - Teagan
Sen drives us back to the mansion, weaving through stop-start midday traffic in tense silence. He’s about to slide in his ABBA CD, but I stop him with a shake of my head while glaring out of the window.
“Teagan.”
I say nothing, not ready to talk or listen. The same as when I dressed him in a long-sleeved black turtleneck tucked into tailored trousers, decorated with a simple black belt with a gold buckle, and shiny black Oxford shoes.
His hair is brushed back with a thin layer of gel. I was tempted to add a hint of glitter to show the depth of his dark locks, but Sen didn’t have any.
He looks good, but that doesn’t mean I’m about to forgive him for being a moron.
“Sweetheart.”
I cross my arms.
Sen manoeuvres us out of the city, and soon we’re gliding down open roads with fields and trees rushing past. I wonder how fast his purring beast can go, and if he’d ever let me drive it. But even the possibility of high speeds doesn’t lower the temperature of the annoyance I’m stewing in.
“I am trying to give you space, Teagan. And failing, obviously,” he says with a hint of humour. I glance at his reflection to find his tongue running along his teeth, the steering wheel fisted. “I used to be famed for my patience. But something about you…” He lets out a disbelieving laugh. “Something about you makes me lose my head.”
Sen indicates, the tick-tocking counting down the seconds before he turns into a pockmarked road, wild with trees and bushes.
“I thought I knew you,” I say quietly, just as the indicator cuts off. “Or I was getting to know you. I understand that you needed to keep quiet about the soulmate thing, and the Summer thing and…well, everything. But I know now, and…”
I dig my nails into my arms. We don’t have time for me to paint, but I wish I could grab the spray cans in my bag tossed in the back seat, and make the road my canvas. Not to work out my feelings, but how to express them to Sen.
“Unsaid things never used to bother me…” I whisper more to my reflection than his. “I…”
I trusted Carter and my friends at uni, and I’m still picking out shards from when that trust shattered.
I shake my head, not sure how to explain.
And then Sen says, “With me, you say whatever is on your mind, okay? Even if that’s your silence.”
I can’t say how long I stay quiet as branches brush over the roof, and the sun tries to penetrate the grey sky. But the words stuck between my lungs and throat finally come free.
“I trust you. I told you what happened to me before anyone else—before Kai. Do you know…” I swallow. “Do you even understand what a big deal that was?”
“I do,” Sen promises.
“Wanting you scares me.” I look at his reflected profile. His crooked nose and the secret smile at the corner of his lips. The strained tendons in his neck and his flexing fingers. “Wanting to gut myself and share every little secret scares me, and I need to know that you…”
