Page 82 of Sands of Atonement

I had barely made it out of the dark tunnel.

Not giving Ezra a chance, I scrambled back, but his iron hand did not waver from my head. Goddamn these Atrovians and my scalp.

“There is only one thing I hate about myself, and it’s the moments that I lose control. Control is something that I have trained for my entire life.” His eyes were almost lifeless. I couldn’t recognize him. “There are three moments in my life where I felt it leaking from my body, and all that was left was a body capable of all things.”

I drove my boot into his shin, but he did not falter.

“One of those moments was when you stepped back into my world, and your idiotic brother thought he’d be able to take you back.” His free hand bunched the front of my robe and pulled me up, pushing me against the limestone wall. The impact left me breathless. I kept my hands wrapped around his to ensure distance in the uncertainty. “No one takes what belongs to me.”

An electric shock ran through my body at his words, pooling low in my stomach. My judgement was clouded for only a moment before my blood boiled in my veins and I began to claw his hand off me.

I belonged to no one.

“But now you’ve stepped into the wrong world, little warrior.”

His eyes burned through me, and I could not stop the tremor that coursed under my skin.

“Ezra, I swear⁠—”

Ezra tsked, silencing me. I caught my breath, and my body tensed. The man who was teaching me new stances in his private arena was not here. There was no gentle bone when he pushed me further against the wall until he crushed me. His face was close to mine, and I could feel the heat that raged from his eyes.

“What am I supposed to do with the little fox that spies on my men, on my women, around my palace, and now in my home?” His voice was low and dangerous, filled with threats he would have no problem taking action on. His other hand slowly wrapped around my throat. “The little fox that is too untamed for her own good.”

I was going to die.

His fingers pressed against my neck, and I clawed against both of his hands.

“Please—”

“Did I say you could speak?”

The heat rose to my cheeks. I’d never been treated like a low-level commoner, but this was not my home. This was Ezra’s. He was Atrovian and most likely their leader.

He was the most dangerous man I’d encountered, and I was caught in his lair.

“We kill that fox.” His eyes turned murderous, and I couldn’t breathe. His hand slipped behind my neck and pulled me toward his towering body. His breath spread across my face, leaving tingles in its trail.

“Maybe that fox is already dead. Maybe that fox is a ghost and has nothing left in her because all she knew died long ago… You killed my family, didn’t you?” I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling on his forearms that held me in place. “And don’t you dare lie to me, Ezra. If I’m going to die here, right now, I want my truth. I deserve that.”

My eyes burned, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of the tears that I never shed. I wasn’t afraid of dying… I was afraid of not knowing. “I need the truth.”

His eyes had not left mine. They were ice in comparison to the heat radiating from his large body that trapped mine.

But something flashed through them just now.

“I did not kill your family.”

“Tell me you swear it, Ezra. Swear that you didn’t.”

“I swear I never harmed them.” His eyes didn’t waver as he continued to stare into mine.

I blinked, then several more times.

He was telling me the truth.

“Then the Atrove did. Before you led them, before you knew. They had to⁠—”

“The Atrove did not.”