Page 188 of Ashen Torment

“How thoughtful.” My mouth curves into a bitter smile, but my eyes burn slightly. “Who told you what had happened?”

“Isobel.”

I burst out laughing, a graceless sound that bounces off the walls.

“Elle? Voyez-vous ça.”

He takes a step toward me, and I snap up from the chair, trying to gain space, but the floor seems to give way beneath my feet.

“It is not important,” he murmurs.

“Of course. You decide what matters and what doesn’t, too.”

I pass my tongue over my lips.

“Who have you been with, Viscount?”

“In bed, you mean? I don’t recall...”

I smile with my head tilted to the side.

“Perhaps with Nathaniel. Perhaps not. Nate is sweet. He is certainly a good lover.”

His nostrils flare, he takes a step toward me.

“Stop it. I am warning you.”

Another step, and we are close, every distance erased. The scent of cedar invades my nostrils.

“Otherwise, what?”

I lift a hand.

“Will you take my hand again and then vanish?”

He seizes my wrist.

“You cut me out, you disappeared. You had disowned everything that happened—”

I press a finger against his shoulder.

“And what exactly happened, pray tell?”

His gray eyes narrow into slits.

“How pathetic can you be to disown what is right in front of you with such force?”

I push harder.

“How pathetic can you be to let yourself be put through all of this?”

He seizes my other wrist, the one still pressing against his chest.

“Why did you not tell me anything?”

I wrench myself from his grip.

“It was a mere fall, I simply fainted for a moment. Why should I have informed you?”