Chapter 25 #2
He dragged me to the foot of his bed and made me sit. Then he draped one of his shirts over my thighs, like he was throwing a blanket over fire, before turning back to his wardrobe with a tick grinding in his jaw.
I glanced down at the shirt, a small, reckless smile tugged at my lips. Slowly, I peeled it away, sitting there in only a sleep top that barely covered me. My thighs were bared, the edge of my panties nearly visible. Let him burn.
He didn’t get to play safe while my mind was tripping at the sight of his half-naked body.
When he turned to drop another shirt, his eyes came to me—precisely my thighs first—and his jaw tightened, muscles ticking in them.
His gaze slid back to me in warning. “Put it back.”
I smothered my smile as I turned away. “I’m hot. It’s hot in here.”
“I can make you hotter, Sanora. So hot you’ll break, and neither of us will come back from it.” His voice roughened with restraint. “Now put it back.”
Damn, this man.
I swore I almost obeyed, my hand almost grabbed the shirt. But instead of doing that, I balled my fists to anchor myself against the command thrumming through his tone.
I glanced back, and the look on his face would have buried me if it could. He was glaring like he wanted to devour me whole.
I pushed my fingers through my hair, my nipples straining against the thin fabric of my shirt with the motion. “You’re staring at me like you want me gone.”
I’d barely finished speaking before his voice cut in. “Don’t move an inch from there.”
When he turned back to the wardrobe and he paused for a second, like his hands had forgotten what he was doing, I couldn’t help the blush that crept up my neck.
The room pressed in around us, thick with the scent of him. My eyes roamed over the space until my mind clicked on a question I’d always wanted to ask him.
“Is there a way in and out of Nimorran that isn’t the train?”
“Yes.”
My spine jerked upright. “Really? Where? How?” There was no use racking my brain because I knew I hadn’t read that anywhere.
“Why? You want to escape?”
“Escape from what?”
He twisted his head to glance at me—really look at me—and for a moment, I thought I’d said something wrong, but then he replied before I could think any further.
“It’s not safe. Only one percent of people know about it, and they’re probably not alive anymore.
There are lots of curses like the Pylath around there, and the paths twist every hour to confuse passers-by.
It plays with whoever ventures there, but might eventually pardon them.
By then, there’s a high chance they’re dying of thirst and hunger,” he explained as he went between his wardrobe and his bed.
My heart stuttered. “Do you think Weeny Man is dead?”
His voice cooled to steel. “I couldn’t care less.”
“There is no way he'd have left Nimorran that day without the train. I walk by his bookshop everyday and it’s just as it always is. He’s not here and he might have travelled through that path.
Shit, he doesn’t have his car with him. It takes twenty-two hours by train to get here.
How long do you think he’s going to walk for—”
“I can’t believe I’m listening to thoughts concerning Winifred.”
“Do you think he’s dead—wait.” My mind froze at his words. “How do you know he’s Winifred?”
He closed his wardrobe, and I looked behind me to see he’d sorted out his clothes—a black shirt and matching trousers. No coats. I let out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t going anywhere.
When I looked up, he was already moving. He stopped in front of me, knees brushing mine. I was sitting and he was standing, looming over me like a doom, the height difference making me feel small and caged.
My eyes couldn’t help but trail down again, sliding over his chest, to the taut ridges of his stomach, to the sharp v-line leading to the towel slung low on his hips, and the hard bulge beneath it that made my throat tighten like I’d swallowed glass.
Before I could drown in the thought of what was budging underneath, he bent. His towel disappeared from view, replaced by his face, lowering towards mine.
He planted his fists on either side of me, denting the mattress and boxing me in. My head tilted back until I could go no further, his face stopping just a breath from mine.
His dark, bottomless eyes locked me in place, piercing through my green ones.
“I don’t care where the hell Winfred is or what happened to him. But hearing his name from your lips when you’re in my room, barely dressed and sitting on my bed while you stare at my body is making me pray he isn’t dead.”
I would’ve blinked in shock, but my body felt paralysed, as though it suddenly understood what fear was meant to feel like. “Why?”
He didn’t answer, and to be honest, he didn’t need to. Those merciless eyes told me everything I needed to know, and damn if that threat didn’t almost had me clenching my thighs.
My gaze fell from his eyes to his lips, and then lower, to his chest.
Before I even realised it, my hand had risen, reaching for him as though he were magnetic. Thrax’s brows furrowed, his stare following the movement of my hand, body stilling, holding his breath.
I was half a centimetre away from tracing the tip of his scar when a soft knock sounded from downstairs. It shattered the air, making me gasp in shock. Thrax pulled back at the same time, straightening to his full height, chest rising once.
Blinking out of the haze, I curled my fingers into a fist against my thigh.
The knock came again, reminding us what had pulled us away in the first place.
I stood up. “I’ll go get it.”
Then I scurried out of his room and down the stairs. Before I reached the door, I paced back and forth, expelling all the lustful energy from my body.
The knock came again.
When I opened the door, Amelia was standing on the other side. She smiled when she saw me, and my brows raised in surprise.
“Hey,” I said, breathless. “Good morning.”
“Yes, good morning. Sorry to barge in here so early.”
“No, it’s okay.” My brows were still raised, surprised by her presence.
“I came to give you...” She dug into her arm bag, bringing out a phone.
My phone. “Oh, gosh.” I took it from her apologetically.
“You left it on the table last night. I thought I’d drop it off before heading to the library.”
Clutching it to my chest, I nodded. She must’ve pulled my address from the borrowing records. “I’m so sorry. Thank you. That’s really kind of you.”
She shook her head, flustered. “Actually, no. I’m sorry if that was too forward of me. It’s against the policy to use your address in that way. I should have kept it and waited for you to come for it.”
“No, Amelia. Honestly, it’s fine.”
Her gaze softened, then she studied me. “To be sincere, the phone is just an excuse. I was worried. You rushed out of the library so suddenly, I thought maybe it was because of the book I gave—”
“No,” I cut in quickly, shaking my head. “It wasn’t that. Not at all. I loved the book. It wasn’t you.”
She exhaled in visible relief...until her eyes drifted past my shoulder. Her body went rigid, her gaze widening.
My heart stopped. The only reason she was looking over my shoulder was definitely because she saw Thrax, and the only reason she was dumb struck should either be because he was so hot beyond natural.
Or he was half-naked.
Whipping around, I scanned him where he stood some feet away from the stairs, relief flooding me when I saw he was dressed, wearing the clothes he’d left on the bed.
Fuck, that was scary.
I shot him daggers, my blood sizzling at how he managed to stand behind me without a sound, hands shoved in his pockets like a king disguised in casual indifference.
I turned back quickly, desperate to get Amelia out. “I’m totally fine. Thanks again, Amelia. Sorry I didn’t invite you in.”
She dragged her eyes off Thrax and shook her head. “No, Sanora, it’s fine. I should get to work anyway.” With a final, lingering glance behind me, she stepped away.
Clicking the door shut, I closed my eyes and exhaled, then turned around to face him.
“Why were you staring like some creep?”
“Were you scared thinking I’d walked down in just a towel?”
Heat crept up my neck, betraying me. I bit down on my lip, knowing there was no use denying. “You sound like that was your plan.”
He smiled lazily. “Don’t worry. My body’s for your eyes only.” The smile slowly faded. “And your eyes are for my body only.”
A shiver shot down my spine. The pulse between my thighs ignited under the weight of that claim, his possessiveness shackling me where I stood. All I wanted to do at that moment was bow down and tell him yes, but where was the fun in that?
“That’s ridiculous,” I forced out. “I can look at whoever I want.”
His lips started tipping into another smile that made my skin crawl with dread. “Then you must hate them so much, seeing how you wish death upon them.”
What?
His voice had the same edge it carried when I talked about Weeny Man, cutting me open without effort. My chest hammered so violently I couldn’t summon a single comeback. I stayed rooted by the door until he finally turned away, striding into the kitchen as though nothing had happened.
Without a word, I escaped upstairs and into the bathroom. Throughout my shower, I reminded myself that he was the Soulless Man, and any rash thought from me again might send me skittering to the afterlife.
I let the water drown the wildfire still licking through my body