Page 252 of Sorrow & Strangers

His power is so immense that it hurts to take a deep breath, making me feel as if I am still suffocating.

“The boy should be grateful,” he growls, his voice sending a shiver down my spine, “to be the sole exception.”

Fear grips me, though I’m not sure what exactly I’m afraid of. Him. It must be him. I need it to be him.

My chest heaves as I look up at him, forcing myself to look down at him though he towers over me. “I am not yours, and now I never will be,” I growl. “Tonight made the decision very easy for me.”

I allow a tendril of my power out, hoping it’ll prompt him to draw his back in a little. Instead, the two come together almost gleefully. His power dances with mine, caressing as mine twines about his, the two coalescing as if they belong together. It is uncontrollable and terrifying because together they feel apoplectic.

“Max did nothing. It was my fault,” I say, refusing to back down. I put Max in danger. It was my cowardice that kept me from telling him, and I am the reason he is hurt. “Your response was to physically assault me and then break his bones.” The stranger’s eyes flicker a little to the bruises on my neck, and I lift my chin. “You hurt me.” His eyes flicker again. “Me.”

He meets my gaze again and grabs my jaw, pulling me to him. This isn’t the same grip from before. This is what I’m used to. The one he uses to tease me, to warn me if I’m being a brat. It’s not meant to hurt me, not in any way that won’t bring me some satisfaction or pleasure.

“You are mine. You have always been mine.” He leans in. “From your first breath to your last.”

“Or what?” I ask, feeling emboldened. His fingers tighten on me, and I snarl. “You going to hurt me again? Kill me?” I ask, letting out a humorless laugh. “All because another kissed me. When you’re too chickenshit to do it.” His fingers don’t tighten, but I can tell my words are affecting him. “Too scared to show me the real you.” I lift a brow, assessing him. “Or perhaps that is what you’re doing right now.”

He grabs my hair, fisting it close to my scalp and yanking hard. My head snaps back, and I snarl, trying not to let a moan slip free.

“Is that what you want? To feel something?”

“I want you to leave me alone.” We were past this. We had moved past this. He has ruined everything.

He scoffs cruelly. “Never.”

My lip curls in a snarl. “I will never, ever want anything from you except your demise,” I say, my voice strong with promise. “And if I have to be the one to do it, if that is the only way to get you to stay the fuck away from me,” I smile, my lips tugging up at the corners, “then I’ll smile as your blood stains the floor beneath my feet.”

He tightens his fingers in my hair, smirking. “If my end comes at your hands. Yours will come at mine. You are mine. From beginning to end. Just as I am yours.”

“You are nothing but a coward,” I scoff. “Hiding behind magic and power. Using it like a shield because you’re afraid.” I shake my head. “Pathetic. Wanting someone who will never want you back.”

He leans in closer. If he were actually here, our breath would be mingling in the space between us. “Your moans and whimpers for me say different, little fae. You begged for more.” His smirk deepens. “I could kiss you right now and make you melt for me.” He glances at my lips. “Maybe I will . . .” He leans in, and I start to panic. I need to get away from him.

“It was all a lie. Every second.” My lips tingle at the memory of our one kiss. “You’re not even really here.”

“Yet I can make you feel more than any other. Even as a shadow,” he whispers, and somehow I feel his breath brush over my lips.

When he gripped my jaw, I began tunneling into my power, and now I’m well sunk into it, but I only have one shot.

“You’re nothing but a stalker, and you will never have me,” I growl, slamming my hand against his chest. I blast through his avatar, feeling his actual body beneath, launching him into the tree line.

Chapter One Hundred Four

The Stranger

You are nothing but a coward. Hiding behind magic and power. Using it like a shield because you’re afraid.

Hiding behind magic and power. Afraid. Perhaps this is the real you.

My power flares out, the trees turning to dust as I soar through the air. Despite my fury, all my defenses were down. My darkness does not consider her a threat, and when she hit me, she somehow temporarily bound my power. I don’t know if she meant to do it, but she even managed to slice through my avatar. I am helpless to stop this, and by the time the strength of her power vanishes, I am miles away from our clearing.

I will never want anything from you but your demise.

Surely she didn’t mean that. She couldn’t.

She told me she wished me dead, wished me ill, wished me harm in hundreds of ways over the last few months, and they all rang so clearly as lies. But the way this is burrowing under my skin, it feels alarmingly close to truth, and it is the first time I am craving more of her lies.

This had to be a lie. It had to be.