“Mmm?”
But words fail me. I really am a coward, after all. I don’t want to say or do anything to break moment of calm, of peace. I’m greedy for as many moments as I can have, because eventually it will end.
The balance will tip, the sky will fall, and reality will come rushing in.25MaloneAurora and I settle into a smooth rhythm over the next week, interrupted only by the check-in that Hades insisted on. It goes off quickly and without an issue, but it’s still strange to have Allecto prowling around my house as if she expects to find evidence of nefarious activities. She and Aurora disappear into the spare bedroom for twenty minutes, and when they come back out again, Allecto announces herself satisfied and Aurora has shadows in her eyes. She doesn’t want to talk about it.
She never wants to talk about it.
I leave her in my bed each morning and head down to work for a few hours. We meet in the gym and spar. She wins a few matches; I win more. Then we end up back in my penthouse, fucking until we’re too exhausted to move. She’s still a little brat, but the edge of hatred is gone, leaving something warm and almost soft in its place.
It should be perfect.
This is what I want, after all. A slow and steady build into something more. A chance to pave the way for this to extend beyond our deadline.
But after ten days, there’s no escaping the truth.
Aurora is holding something back.
I have no business demanding more of her, especially so soon, but sometimes she looks at me and gets this strange expression in her dark eyes. It’s not grief. I’ve seen her grieving, and the night I beat her with a cane and then shattered her with pleasure seems to have blunted the edge of her sorrow. No, this is something else.
I’ve never met a mystery I was able to leave alone, and this is no exception. The stakes are too high. I want her. Whatever she’s hiding is preventing me from having her entirely.
It comes to a head three nights before the end of the assignation. I can feel the seconds slipping through my fingers with each tick of the clock, and it puts me in a foul mood. “Aurora.”
“Hmmm?” She looks over from where she’s been contemplating the fire crackling in the fireplace.
Maybe I’ve been going about this wrong. Wanting her to give herself to me without being vulnerable in turn isn’t going to work. I should have known that from the start. I take a slow breath. “I care about you.”
She tenses as if she’s going to jump off the couch and flee the room. “Don’t say that.”
My patience threatens to snap, but I hold it together through sheer force of will. “I realize that things are complicated between us, but I’m not misreading things when I say we’ve both had a lot of fun since you’ve been here.”
She won’t quite meet my gaze. “Yes, we’ve had fun.”
“More than fun.” A small part of me tries to put on the brakes before I push us into something we can’t take back, but I’ve never been good at sitting still when the prize I want is before me. “You’ve enjoyed your time with me.”
“Malone, please.” There it is, that expression I can’t define. “Let’s just enjoy the next three days.”
I should let it go. I already know I won’t. I lean forward and try to get her to meet my gaze. “What if this extended past the next three days?”
Aurora clears her throat. “Why did you leave Sabine Valley?”
This is what’s bothering her? What she’s been chewing on for the last week? No, it doesn’t make any sense. We’ve talked about this already, or at least touched on it enough that it’s not a mystery.
This is just the lead-in question to circle whatever is bothering her. With that in mind, I answer honestly and without hesitation. “Because if I didn’t, I might have ended up fighting my sister for the Amazon throne.” I catch her look and shrug. “I was never going to be content with second place, but I love my sister and I love my people, so I chose to leave to spare us all that.”
“Couldn’t you have just not tried to stage a coup?”
“I am ambitious. I always have been.” She’s still looking at me like I’m speaking Latin, so I try to elaborate. “My mother was the most powerful person I’ve ever known. Sabine Valley has fail-safes in place to ensure the territories don’t go to war, but there are a thousand things that could happen to spell the end of an heir’s life that have nothing to do with violence. She wanted to ensure our people would be cared for regardless, which meant she raised us both to rule. But my sister was healthy and strong. There was no need for the spare.”