Page 127 of The Thief and the Traitor Bride

“I know who you were. Who you are. Why would you steal for others, and yet not for me?”

“Because I don’t know what the duchess intends to do with that information,” Caspian said, more level than she felt. He shook his head slowly. His arms were crossed over his chest, every muscle tight. “I did not come here to betray anyone, Finch.”

“Not all observation is betrayal.”

“No, but the way you use that information is.”

Nore couldn’t fight the sudden rush of anger she felt. “And why are you so certain of that? What proof do you have?”

Caspian looked at her like he couldn’t believe the words had come out of her mouth. “Are you really asking me that?”

“I think I have a right to,” she snapped.

“Elinore,” he said, so softly it hurt. “The duchess—she will never love you. No matter what you give to her, she will not see you as anything more than a tool.”

Nore looked away. That was not the argument she wanted to have. “And you love me, then?” she asked, the pain sinking in.

Caspian only looked at her, and did not answer. Finally, he laughed bitterly, dropping his head to his hands. “You’re going to die alone one day. And gods, sometimes I think you want it that way.”

She flinched—maybe that was the distraction: the unforgiving loneliness of the rest of her life stretching out in front of her. After this mission, she would go back to her life, exhausting and colorless, and leave him behind for good.

And for what? For a promotion? For her job?

All the frustration of the last few weeks burst forth. She strode across the room until she was right in front of him, until he couldn’t brush past her or look away. “I’m asking you to trust me. That’s all I’ve been asking you this entire time.”

“How can I, when you won’t trust me?”

“I do trust you,” Nore gritted out. “I know it’s a mistake. I know I shouldn’t. But I know…” She closed her eyes, disbelieving that she was admitting this to him. “I know that you will not hurt me, that you will not go astray, because of the damage that would cause. Not just to our mission, and not at all to the duchess—but to me.”

Caspian sucked in a breath. “And what if you’re wrong?”

Nore stepped closer, her chest touching Cas’s, pinning him against the dresser. “Am I?” she asked.

“Nore…” he said, a note of caution in his voice.

Nore licked her lips, focusing on the heat of his skin and little else. Sometimes she wanted to strangle him and sometimes, she wanted to do so much worse.

“What if,” she said, “this is me begging?”

“You’ll have to do a more convincing job than that,” Cas said, his voice simmering with heat.

Nore remembered that there was something else they were arguing about, but now, this was at the forefront of her mind. But she knew—she knew she wanted him; she knew, easily, how to make him hers again.

Nore brought her hands up, fingers skimming his skin as she parted his unbuttoned shirt. She slipped it from his shoulders, tracing her lips over the newly revealed skin. “Please,” she murmured. She kept him pinned in place with her hips, unyielding.

“Nore,” he said again. His hands came down to her shoulders and gently, he pushed her away. “Why are you doing this?”

She looked up at him, frozen, her hands still on his chest. And on his face… was it disappointment?

“Because I want you,” she said, but the words felt wooden in her mouth. She searched for something else. “And I thought you wanted me.”

“I do want you,” he said. He took one of her hands and brought it to his lips, kissing the palm. “But I want the version of you that…” Cas shook his head, slipping out of her grasp. “I want the version of you who wasn’t so focused on her work. The one who had desires other than ambition. I want the version of you I married, Nore—the one who cared about her family, and her business, and me. I don’t want this manipulative, hollow person you’ve become.”

Nore felt as if someone had stuck a very thin blade into her heart, so very difficult to detect, and only now twisted it.

“How do you know I’m not that person?” she asked. Worse still: How did he know she had not always been this person?

He sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at her, exposing the long column of his throat. “How do I know this isn’t just another manipulation?”