Chapter 28 CHAPTER 28
Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, the movement caught my attention immediately. The softness that had been there moments ago disappeared so quickly I almost wondered if I imagined it in the first place. His expression hardened again, something colder settling back into place as he looked down at me.
“There are clothes on the chair,” he said.
I followed his gaze and noticed folded clothing resting there, much simpler than the dress from before.
“Get dressed. Then eat.”
My eyes flicked toward him again. “Or what?”
a Look of irritation spread across his face. “Do not test me again, little hunter,” he said quietly. “You almost died last night.”
The words settled heavily in the room.
Not because of how he said them.
But because for the first time since meeting him…
He sounded angry about it.
I wanted to kick myself. Me and my big mouth.
Why couldn’t I just keep it shut for once?
The moment the words left my mouth, I knew I had pushed too far again. It was like something inside me always had to bite back, even when common sense screamed at me not to. This beast could snap me in half without even trying, and yet somehow I still found the courage to argue with him every chance I got.
Or maybe I was just stupid.
My eyes stayed on him as he stood near the fire, the warm light flickering over his dark fur and broad frame. He looked calmer now than before, but there was still something dangerous about the way he watched me. Like all it would take was one wrong word to wake whatever darkness lived inside him again.
The memory of his hand around my throat flashed through my mind so suddenly that my chest tightened. I could almost feel it again, the pressure, the panic, the way I couldn’t breathe.
A small shiver ran through me.
Not from the cold this time.
I pulled the blanket tighter around myself and looked away from him, suddenly feeling very aware of the fact that I was sitting in his room, half dressed, wrapped in his fur blanket while my ruined clothes lay in pieces on the floor beside us.
Nothing about my life felt real anymore.
Just days ago, I had been on the farm, worrying about crops and chickens and whether the roof would survive another storm. Now I was sitting beside a giant beast in a cursed palace while he ordered me to eat like some grumpy husband annoyed that I almost froze to death.
The thought hit me so unexpectedly that I nearly choked on it.
God, what is wrong with me?
Heat rushed to my cheeks again, and I quickly looked down before he could notice. Maybe almost drowning had damaged my brain because nothing about this situation should have felt normal. Nothing about him should have felt normal.
And yet… a small part of me remembered waking up in his arms, warm and safe.
I swallowed hard and pushed the thought away before it could settle too deeply in my mind.
No.
Absolutely not.
This was still the same creature that dragged me here. The same beast that terrified me. Just because he saved me didn’t suddenly make him good.
Still… my eyes slowly drifted back toward him again before I could stop myself.
“Why did you save me?” I asked quietly before I could rethink the question.
The room went quiet after the question left my mouth.
For a moment, he didn’t answer. He just stood there near the fire, staring into the flames like they suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world. The silence stretched long enough that I thought maybe he was going to ignore me again.
Then his jaw tightened slightly.
“You fell through the ice,” he said simply, his deep voice filling the room. “I was not going to let you drown.”
I frowned slightly. “After you almost strangled me?”
His eyes slowly shifted toward me then, and something dark flickered across his face before disappearing again.
“You pushed me,” he said.
I stared at him in disbelief. “I pushed you?” I almost laughed, though there was no humor in it. “You had your hand around my throat!”
A low growl rumbled from his chest, but it wasn’t loud like before. It almost sounded annoyed more than angry.
“And you shoved your thumbs into my eyes.”
I blinked at him.
“Well…” I muttered quietly, looking away for a second. “You were trying to kill me.”
Silence fell again, but this time it felt different. Less sharp. Less dangerous.
I carefully looked back at him and noticed his gaze drift toward the fire again, his expression harder to read now. Something about him looked tired suddenly, though I couldn’t explain why.
“I was not going to kill you,” he said after a moment.
The words caught me off guard.
My brows pulled together slightly as I stared at him. “Could’ve fooled me.”
His jaw clenched again, and for the first time since meeting him, he actually looked… frustrated with himself.
Not with me, but with himself.
“That was the beast,” he muttered quietly.
The beast? The way he said it made a strange feeling settle in my chest, like he was talking about it as if it were separate from him somehow. My eyes searched his face, trying to understand what he meant, but before I could ask, he looked back at me again.
“You should not have run.”
I opened my mouth instantly. “You locked me in a tower!”
“It was safer.”
“For who? Me or you?”
His eyes narrowed slightly at that, but he didn’t answer right away, and somehow that felt like answer enough.
I swallowed slowly and looked down at the blanket wrapped around me, my fingers tightening slightly in the fur. Everything about this was confusing. Him. This place. The way he could go from terrifying to almost gentle and then back again so quickly it made my head spin.
Nothing about him stayed the same long enough for me to understand him.
“You keep acting like you care whether I live or die,” I said quietly, almost more to myself than him. “But then you do things that make me think you hate me.”
The words hung in the air between us.
He didn’t move for a long moment.
Then slowly, he looked at me again, and something in his expression changed. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t softness either.
It was something heavier.
“You make me lose control,” he said quietly.
The words sent a strange shiver through me.
Not because he raised his voice.
But because he sounded honest.