“And then, you’d still be alive, safe. Untouched.” King Nicholas said, voice barely a breath against my skin.
I swallowed hard, my heart thudding so loud I was certain he could hear it.
“But I would’ve looked weak,” I whispered, almost ashamed.
His brow arched, slow and deliberate. “Is that worse than being dead?”
I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. My pride had gotten me into this, and now it felt like it was the only thing keeping me standing. That and the impossible swirl of emotions I refused to name whenever King Nicholas was near.
King Nicholas exhaled slowly, the air between us charged with something thick and electric. He watched me in that maddeningly calm way of his, like he was reading my thoughts, turning them over in his mind like puzzle pieces he was determined to solve.
Then hi
