He’d listened to me.
Actually listened.
And he’d done the right thing.
I squeezed him harder. Perhaps there was hope for him after all.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He shoved my shoulder, knocking me back a step.
When I saw the dark look on his face, my stomach dropped. “Giving you a hug?”
“Ahug?” he scoffed. “You think just because I don’t keep you locked up, that means you’re allowed to touch me?”
Oh no . . .
“I’m . . . I’m sorry.”
“I don’t think you are.” His pupils blew out, flooding his eyes with black. “But you will be.” Rían caught my arm. Yanked me toward the back of the castle.
I tried to drag my feet in a useless attempt to deter him. He only pulled harder. Muireann sneered. Ruairi called my name.
Rían wouldn’t throw me in the dungeon. He wouldn’t. He was bluffing.
An ominous black door marked the entrance to the castle dungeons.
With a flick of his wrist, it flew open.
Oh god.
He wasn’t bluffing.
The torches on the wall sparked to life. His blunt nails bit into my skin as he towed me down a spiral staircase, deep into the bowels of the cliff. Damp, dank air held an unmistakable coppery tang. At the bottom, the stairs opened to a narrow hallway with doors made of metal bars on either side as far as the eye could see.
He shoved me into one, stepping in behind, then slammed the door so loudly, the rattling bars echoed.
“I’m sorry,” I cried, tears streaming down my cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry—”
He flicked his wrist.
With the tost, no one would come to my aid. No one would find me. Would he leave me down here for the year, just because of a foolish hug?
His black eyes narrowed as he stalked forward, forcing me into the corner. My spine collided with the gritty stones. My head hit the manacles dangling from the ceiling.
Rían braced his forearms on either side of my head, his eyes feral as they bore into mine. “I will tell you this once,” he said, his voice smooth and lethal, the edge of a sharpened blade. “You cannot touch me or speak to me as if I am anything but the vile bastard I am. I have no friends in this castle, in this kingdom, or in this world. If anyone learns what you mean to me, I will be forced to kill them.” He kissed me. The sweetest, softest brush of his lips against mine. “You are my only weakness. And if the world found out, it would take you away.”
Like a key in a lock, everything clicked.
The soundproof barriers. The mood swings.
You are my only weakness.
Listen with your eyes.
I’d glimpsed the goodness in him, and then he’d hidden it away beneath snide remarks and scowls.
Listen with your heart.
My heart. The traitorous thing pummelling my chest. The only constant in this madness.