up in sporadic discharges of air.
I smile to myself, things that would be so normal for other people aren’t so usual for us. How things have shifted from where I was sliding a blade against his face to see what kind of man laid under his flesh just for him to be plunging into me now against my bedroom door.
“Dagen,” I whimper, knowing that the sound of his name out loud will help to his downfall. “Harder.”
He kisses the back of my shoulder blade. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Now.” I cry. “Own me.” He doesn’t wait for anymore encouragement, picking up speed, our grunts and moans mixing together in the room, and I’m about there.
My lower stomach clenches, listening to him in pleasure as he continues to possess every inch of me.
Until there is a loud knock on the door.
“Davina!”
My eyes widen, my next intake of oxygen—it’s gone.
“Fuck,” Dagen curses, letting me down gently. He makes sure my skirt is covering my ass before he takes his hands off my waist, and pulls up his pants then lets me open the door.
Tobias stands on the other side with brows knitted together, his white shirt untied at the top to show off his tan chest when the door opens further, and my best friend’s eyes fall on the Viking behind me.
“The fuck are you doing here?” he snaps. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dagen rest his forearm off the door while stepping closer to me.
“Could ask you the same question,” he deadpans.
“You belong in a cage,” Tobias snarls. “Preying off the kindness of—”
“Tobias,” I urge, my heart in my throat. “We can talk outside the room if you’d like.”
His eyes broaden. “Did you just—your voice.”
I give him a weak smile. “Just happened.”
“But, how did—” I gently push him back so I can walk out of my bedroom, just to turn around and face Dagen with a raised brow.
“I’ll be—um, back.”
“You better,” he replies then slowly closes the door. The moment it clicks, Tobias is on me. His body inches from mine, towering over me.
“What is he doing in your room?”
“Well, he was there to make sure—”
“Are you fucking him?” His use of words makes me outwardly flinch along with the harsh tone in his voice.
I can hear it all perfectly, every syllable and feeling that he’s adverting—pain, hurt, embarrassment.
“Really?” I snap.
“How are you speaking right now?” he presses onward. “It’s been years since I...I remember it like it was yesterday.” My hand finds his arm, but he quickly withdraws it from me.
Swallowing my hesitation, I say, “The veil is disappearing and so is the spell.”
“And you’re—” He looks back at the now closed door. “You’re with him.”
“I’m not with anyone,” I retort. “I mean, I don’t—there hasn’t been any talk about—”
“Did I not hear you groan ‘own me’?” I can feel my whole face blanch. The numbness that takes over my entire body because it’s not mine anymore.
I’ve changed over the course of weeks, and the old Davina, the sweet, naive one, she’s gone.
Right along with the veil. And Tobias has always waited and served me with every action he’s ever made.
“Tobias,” I begin. “You know I love you. There isn’t—”
“But you love him now,” he cuts in. “Isn’t that what I just heard?”
“I never said the word ‘love’. You’re making this—”
“Worse?” He shakes his head and gives out a disgusted scoff. “No, you did that.”
It’s over, but it did begin—a long time ago when she was still a young girl who swam under the ocean and I was a young idiot that was smitten by her beauty.
Everything that is beautiful fades, I just didn’t think it’d be because of a stranger who wanted to invade her land and steal something that meant the world to her—something that belonged to her mother. I never thought I’d see Davina get starry-eyed and foolish to the point where she’d put herself and her sisters at risk when I’ve spent years keeping Hunters off her trail.
It’s pathetic really, how I thought things would change. How one day I thought she’d see me again and not past me. And within a span of ten seconds and the gravelly “own me” that slipped through the cracks of her bedroom door, my heart plummeted, hit rock bottom, and shattered into a million pieces.
“Psst.” I glance up to the empty hallway to see one of the girl’s men standing guard at Vlatka’s door and her head peering around the door frame.
“What are you