Page 115 of This Shattered Star

He could have left. Could have grabbed his clothes without another word and walked straight out of my room. But he didn’t.

Allies. Friends. Something more. Too many invisible lines had been crossed.

She is mine and you will not have her.

Too much damage had been wrought on both ends.

But my tongue was heavy in my mouth. My lips were bound with adhesive.

“I can hear you thinking,” Kodhan murmured into my hair.

“You don’t have that kind of magic,” I forced out.

“No,” he hummed. “But I can feel those wheels turning nonetheless.” A kiss to my temple. “Right here.”

He deserved to know. “There’s something…” I swallowed hard. Tried again. “There’s something I need to tell you."

He tensed right away. "Do you regret what we’ve done?”

“No!” I pulled back to look at him. “No, I don’t. Not at all.” The frown pulling at his lips eased. “Here, with you, I feel lighter. I feel happy.” Happier than I’d ever been. Content.

His sigh of relief blew strands of hair from my face. He tucked the rest behind my ear. “Then you can tell me anything. I’m listening.” He gazed down at me like he could soak up each one of my words. Like his very next breath depended on them.

This changes nothing,we’d said.

And what liars we’d been.

“You’re going to think I’ve gone mad.” Which wouldn’t be entirely far from the truth.

“I’ve already made up my mind where you’re concerned, Eloise. And there is nothing you could tell me that will change what I think about you.”

The admission wove countless strings around my heart. Tied each of them off in tight, neat little bows to ensure none of them could be undone.

“Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all.”

I traced the line of his collarbone as I rallied a breath of courage. Then, blurted, “I’m running out of time.”

His brows pinched together.

“What do you mean?” Already, violence shone in his eyes.

“It started when we first entered the tower. I thought nothing of it at first, but I’ve been seeing—”

Three knocks hit against my door.

We both sat up straight, but made no other effort to move. Whoever bothered to knock wouldn’t have the gall to enter without a response.

“What do you want?” Kodhan called out before I could.

“Sir Dreadmourne?” a man answered from the other side of the door. One whose voice I failed to recognize. By the shake of Kodhan’s head, he didn’t, either. “Gods above, I’ve been searching for you everywhere.”

“And now you’ve found me. Which means you have three seconds to explain the importance of your presence. I’m rather occupied at the moment, so if it turns out that your presence is meaningless, then it’ll be one of your limbs you will be searching for next.”

“My apologies, Sir Dreadmourne, it isn’t—well—”

“Out with it,” Kodhan barked.