Dark Promise by Annika West
39
If he thought I’d go down quietly, he was wrong.
I’d always met his strength with twice the stubbornness. Somehow, in the past few days, I’d forgotten that.
Just as he rose to his knees, likely planning on exploding the mountain, I reappeared behind him, one hand around his throat, the other spread over his bare abdomen.
His skin was hot and the muscles tense beneath.
“I want a lot of things from you,” I whispered in his ear, pressing my body to his. “More jokes, for one. Marigold’s puns are more impressive than your sense of humor. It’s pitiful.”
He pivoted, likely planning on taking over again.
I eased forward as if for a kiss, and then pushed Hux onto his back.
Take that, for once, Overlord.
I climbed onto him, sitting on his stomach and propping my hands on his shoulders. My blonde hair fell in a tangle around us.
From his new position, he gazed up, hesitant but intrigued. “And?”
“More fun stuff. Not just the missions and the work. I need to have fun. Why haven’t we gone skiing?”
His brows furrowed. “Skiing is a perilous form of recreation, Aster. I’m certain you’d lose both skis and somehow set the lift on fire.”
“Irrelevant. I want to ski.”
“Fine. What else?” He was keeping himself from touching me, even with his rune blazing. Even with the heat pouring from his predatory eyes.
“You’re old as shit.”
“Strictly speaking, shit cannot age for very long. It will eventually decompose and break down into the earth, reabsorbed —"
“I said what I said, Overlord. Old. As. Shit.”
He sighed.
“We have completely different perspectives on the world, and I’m not looking to complain about all the weird habits you’ve created. Like constantly scheming.”
“But?”
“I will complain about the lying. The kind that has to do with crazy important stuff. Like, I don’t know… the fact that you set me up with Creed. I’m not your chess piece. And you need to stop treating me like one. Willow and August, too.”
“What else?”
I want to be honest with him. Deadly, embarrassingly honest.
“It’s your turn,” I hedged. “What do you want, Overlord?”
His hands slid up my thighs. “I want you to be free of me.”
I scoffed, choked when I actually heard what he’d revealed, and then blurted, “What did you just say?”
He teased the edge of my shirt, tugging softly. “I’ve known for a while what I must say to you, and I have been fighting it. However, I can’t deny this any longer. Because I began this relationship by luring you into my clutches with strategies and lies.
He grimaced, looking away from me as if in shame. “What a confusing, tumultuous thing for a mate bond to grow from. And as that connection grew, I maintained that control over you. That power. And I believe it is for this reason that our mate bond has not solidified, despite the fact that we’ve both accepted it.”
I listened, stunned.
Was this… real?
He lifted his chin once more. “As for my ‘weird habits’, as you so graciously called the compulsive strategizing, lying and controlling behaviors… they are a hindrance. They lack your brightness, Aster. I’ve trapped myself in the dark for too long, alone in my tower. You saw the truth of that in my eyes after my conversation with Creed. There you were, traumatized. Stunned. Yet all I could feel in that moment was regret that you discovered my scheme, along with vague irritation. Part of me believed that my involvement with Creed and your capture didn’t matter. Who cared how things happened when you were my mate? We would have always found each other. What was left to question?”
“On top of that, your mortality scares me. If I let go of you even for the span of a heartbeat, I am terrified that you will die and be lost forever. And now, I fear that if I truly release you, you will walk away and never turn back.”
He dropped his head to ground, shaking it in quiet exasperation. “I’ve long forgotten how to be mortal, Aster. After a disgusting lapse in empathy, I understand how I harmed you. I understand that those secrets are the same as betrayal. That’s why I must, in no uncertain terms, release you from your contract.”