Chapter 49: A kiss
"So, you’re making me a gift."
His voice was slow, deliberate. A lazy kind of menace coiled through his words as he drifted closer, his fingertips grazing the edge of Rigo’s table. Ren stood frozen, her pulse hammering in her throat. He never showed anything, never let a damn thing slip. But now? Now his face was different. Twisted. Dark. Something wicked flickered behind his eyes, something vicious and unfamiliar.
What the hell had happened while she was gone? This wasn’t him. This wasn’t the man she knew. Had she ever really known him at all?
"What if I am?" she shot back, turning her attention to the glass vials before her. She gathered the ingredients she needed, hands moving with steady precision. The cologne would take hours to complete, and she was determined to finish before midnight, before retreating to the solitude of her room.
"Shouldn’t you be at the forge, crafting a silver weapon? Bringing me a vampire?" Her voice was clipped, businesslike, but edged with something sharp. "Or are you planning to stand here and shout at me when I cut that creature open?"
His expression shifted. That fierce, unreadable glare melted away, replaced by something softer, hesitation, maybe even guilt.
"Thank you," he said, his voice lower now. "For saving my second godson. And I’m... I’m sorry for judging you so quickly." He exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just, I don’t think I know you well enough to..."
"Trust me?" she finished for him.
He hesitated, then nodded.