Page 97 of The Hunted

So had he been wrong?

He would soon find out.

“What theory, Eryx?”

He smiled. His reflection in the wet windows mirrored the expression when the lightning streaked across the blackened sky. Looking up, he was able to see just how thick the rolling storm clouds were and just how much water was dumping down on them. The wind had already ripped several trees from their roots on the property. Word of floods in the surrounding villages had come in yesterday.

Not that there was anything they could do.

The storms would continue.

They would only get worse.

Thing was … Eryx was no longer afraid of them.

“Before we get into that,” he said, finally turning away from the glass doors that were stressed under the pressure of the storms, “I have a question first.”

He found she was still standing at the far end of the room and Gods … what a sight she was. Wrapped in silk, with fire-red curls that sprung out in every direction, and something haunted in her beautiful face.

A treat, really.

It took every ounce of willpower he had to stay right where he was and not cross the room to go to her. Despite how the last while had been meant to force her into coming to him, it hadn’t been particularly easy or kind for him, either. Not that he’d expected it to be, but he certainly hadn’t thought it would be this hard. For one, because he suspected none of this would end the way he wanted it to. And for two, because he was determined to get his answers tonight.

He couldn’t do that if he were fucking her.

However, it simply confirmed things he believed.

Something was different with them.

She would tell him what it was.

“What would happen,” he started, tilting his head toward the doors that led to the stairs currently kissing the sea with every wave that rushed up to touch the marble. “If I opened those doors?”

Arelle’s gaze darted from his to the rain-drenched glass. “The rain and wind would get in, wouldn’t it?”

“And make a mess.” He chuckled. “But that isn’t what I mean. What would you do?”

“I …” Her pretty bow-shaped lips turned down at the edges. “I don’t understand.”

“If I opened these doors, stepped back, and said go … what would happen?”

Her sharp inhale rattled through the room.

The following silence echoed.

At her sides, the shaking hands she balled into small fists hid the truth of her nerves. Not that it mattered because he had already seen them. He wondered if she might lie again … would she make him chase circles that answered nothing and leave him with more questions?

She surprised him.

Shocking.

She was always doing that.

More so than she should.

“I would go home because it’s the only place I know.”

“And?” he pressed.