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“You think I can catch an illness with no powers?”
He shook his head, smiling softly. “Doubtful. I’m afraid even illnesses would fear you.”
“Ass.” I swatted at him, but he dodged me effortlessly. “Do you fear me?”
His grin turned into a closed-lipped smile as he took a step toward me. I don’t know why I asked that question or why I was so desperate to know, but a part of me, behind lock and key, was curious.
“No.” His eyes scanned my face. “You’d have to do something truly terrifying to scare me, and I have not seen it yet.”
A part of me, made of scales, claws, and lethal bite, smoldered under those words.
Samkiel reached out and removed a small twisted branch from my hair, his fingers lingering along the ends, and I let them. “Do you want something to eat?” he asked hopefully.
“Maybe, but let me do it because your cooking sucks. That’s probably why I haven’t wanted to eat.”
He barked a laugh, and the ground shook. Samkiel was in front of me in the next breath, his powerful back blocking all from sight.
“You’re needed at the council.”
Logan.
I peered around Samkiel. Logan’s gaze bounced between us, taking in our disarray before a bright smile lit his features.
“Very well,” Samkiel said, turning toward me. “Let me walk Dianna back, and I will be there.”
Reality crashed back in, erasing the simple joy of the day. I was doing it again. Pretending everything was fine, that we were…. I swallowed. We weren’t having fun. This wasn’t a vacation or an escape. I was still a monster who got her sister killed, had done terrible things in the name of vengeance, and Samkiel had a council who wanted my head.
My face blanched as I took a step back from him. He saw the change, and his expression turned stony as if he could sense the defenses I was currently rebuilding.
“I think I can survive a few feet without you,” I said.
Samkiel’s brows furrowed. “Dianna.”
I held my hand up. “Seriously, I’m fine. I doubt I will get kidnapped or trampled or anything else you could possibly worry over on the way.” He took a deep breath, but I cut him off. “Just go.”
Thick unspoken tension heavier than a stone wall slammed down between us.
“Very well,” he said, deciding not to argue for once.
With a snap of his fingers, the path to the palace turned to cobblestone. A railing of the same stone appeared, vines and blooms of various bright colors draping it.
I turned back, glaring at him.
“Just in case. I’d hate for you to get lost,” Samkiel said with a smile.
With another flick of his fingers, every ounce of sweat, dirt, and water disappeared from me, then him, his dirty clothes replaced by his silver and white council garbs, the split tail of his jacket flaring behind him. Regal and majestic, the total opposite of me.
“I’ll return when I can.”
“No.”
“No?”
I squared my shoulders, and that impenetrable wall fully formed between us, erecting itself around my bruised and damaged heart. Every brick he had cast down, I replaced in an instant.
“This isn’t helping either of us. Apparently, you are needed elsewhere, and all you’re doing is wasting your time coming back. In the future, just send The Hand to check on me. The quicker you handle the council, the quicker I can leave here. Whatever you all decide to do with me, at least it will be over.”
“Dianna—”
