Page 24 of Beautiful Ruins
Her grin went feral.“Oh, you are.And I adore a puzzle.”
Raze muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a warning.
Tone ignored him completely.“Relax.He’s all bark and no bite.”
“I sort of figured that out already.”
She laughed—real, warm, unrestrained.The sound bounced off the walls like it belonged there.I glanced at Raze.He looked resigned.Fond.Mildly irritated.
And that’s when I knew that Tone and I were going to get along just fine.
“Which one’s your room?”Tone demanded, already scanning the hallway like she owned the blueprint.She didn’t wait for an answer.“Let’s get you into some decent clothes.”
She scrunched her nose at the oversized shirt I was drowning in, like my outfit had personally offended her.
I looked down at myself—bare legs, too-long sleeves, the hem brushing my thighs, and fabric that smelled faintly like soap and something sharp and expensive.It was objectively ridiculous.But it was also the first clean thing I’d worn in… I didn’t even want to count.
Before I could answer, Raze stepped forward.
Not aggressively or dramatically.Just enough to make it clear that the space between Tone and me belonged to him.He lifted a hand, palm out, like he could physically pause the world.
And for a second, the air did pause.
It wasn’t just a gesture.It was an instinct.A reflex.A man used to controlling rooms with nothing more than a look and minimal movement.
Except Tone wasn’t a room.
She was a hurricane in heels.
I took a small step toward her anyway, because I refused to be herded like livestock, and because Tone’s presence felt like oxygen in a house that ran on watchful silence.
Tone’s head turned slowly toward her brother.She gave him a side-eye so sharp it could’ve drawn blood, and then her expression hardened into something that wasn’t playful anymore.
Raze didn’t flinch.He didn’t need to.He was built for conflict.Wore it like a tailored suit.
But I saw the change in him—subtle, almost imperceptible.Like the edges of him softened, not for me, not for the guards, not for anyone else.
For her.
“No socialising with the prisoner,” he warned.
Tone blinked once.Then she exploded.
“Are you forfuckingreal right now?”she screeched, voice ricocheting off the stone and glass like a thrown knife.
Raze’s jaw tightened.“Tone, watch your?—”
“Mywhat?My mouth?”she cut in, stepping closer to him.“Because I can promise you it only gets worse from here.”
She marched straight into his space, chin tipped up, shoulders squared like she’d been born ready to go to war with men twice her size.And Raze—who looked like he could crush bone with one hand—didn’t back away.
But he did drop his arm.Just let it fall.As if he already knew he wasn’t winning this battle.
“I don’t care who the fuck she is,” Tone hissed, pointing at me without looking away from him, “or what you think she’s done.She’s a human being, Raze.And you treat her with decency.”
Raze’s eyes flashed.“You don’t know what she’s?—”
“I don’t need to,” Tone clipped out, voice low now.Deadlier.“You treat her the way you’d want me to be treated.”
