Bound By Blood, Claimed By Fate 2
I stayed perfectly still, hoping to hear something more. Nothing. After a long pause, I released a slow deep breath and shook my head. Maybe I was being paranoid. Maybe.
Still, I reached for the door and made sure it was locked before turning away. “Worrying won’t do anything,” I whispered to myself.
My parents would be here soon, and if nothing else, I wanted to look presentable when they arrived.
With that thought, I grabbed some fresh clothes from my bag and headed to the bathroom where an ivory bathtub waited. Lined up on the marble counters were countless bathing products and a particular pomegranate-scented bath bomb that caught my eye.
The warm water helped ease some of the stiffness in my muscles. I scrubbed away the lingering exhaustion from the trip, letting the steam fill the small space, cocooning me in temporary peace.
But it couldn’t wash away the restlessness in my mind.
Even as I lathered soap across my arms, Higan’s face resurfaced in my thoughts, his infuriated stare, the tension in his frame. It was the first time I’d seen him in months, and yet, I still felt uneasy about him. I suppose the sorcery didn’t come with a ready-to-install bravery package.
I rested my head against the cool bathtub edge, water trickling down my thighs. I let out a shaky sigh swallowing the lump growing between my throat.
To be quite honest, I hated that he still existed as something to bother me despite everything else. It was terrifying to think things might always be like that. I might never live past the fact that he was my mate and I was rejected by him.
When the water ran cold, I rinsed out the lather and climbed out of the tub. The gentle scent of pomegranate lingered on my skin after drying off. I hummed as I wrapped a towel around myself and stepped outside the bathroom with pitter-pattering steps.
The golden glow filtering through the windows confessed the sun had begun its descent. Noon was ending and the shadows in the room were preparing for the night.
I reached for the clothes on my bed, backing the door. Then the air shifted, stirred by a presence in my room.
My breath hitched, my fingers itched as they barely held the fabric of my towel together, and my body froze mid-step.
I listened in and someone was in fact in the room with me. For a moment, all I heard was my heartbeat, loud and frantic but a muted heartbeat drummed in my ears. They were trying to hide it.
My grip tightened around the towel as my mind went through the worst possibilities. A Melbringer? or worse, Higan?
I forced myself to turn slowly, ready to unleash the uncomfortable tingling under my fingertips.
My stomach unknotted only slightly when I saw Ethan, leaning against the wall blanketed by the dark corners of my bedroom. His gaze was locked onto me, bright and oddly amber.
His arms were crossed, his stance easy, but there was something in his tightened expression and the way his eyes burrowed into mine like they feared being elsewhere.
“It’s just me,” he said, but his voice was lower, strained with tension I could have missed if I wasn’t so hyperaware.
I was glad it was just Ethan but that didn’t make the situation any easier. I swallowed, pressing my lips together.
“How’d you get inside? I didn’t hear the door unlock,” I questioned with a deep frown.
“I figured it was locked for its reasons, was I one of them?” He hummed deeply before gently brushing his nose with the back of his hand, his eyes momentarily trailing to the floor.
I squinted my eyes at him. “Not really, it was just for Higan.“
“Sinclair,” he butted in with a frown.
I hesitated before nodding. He was acting rather strange. Too strange for me to decipher. Ethan was open in the ways he knew and I’d always appreciated that but something about the situation suggested he was trying to hide something.
His jaw was clenched ever so slightly, his left foot had been tapping against the floor and his eyes had not returned to their usual emerald. He ran a slow hand through his hair before pushing off the wall and stepping closer.
“He’s not going to come near you,” he said. “Not here. And not anywhere else if I have anything to say about it.”
I exhaled, gripping the edge of my towel closer. “Well you say that but it doesn’t stop the anxiety.”
His gaze darkened slightly and he looked down at the floor again. “You’re anxious because you’re scared of him?”
I let out a small laugh, shaking my head. “Who knows? Not sure if it’s quite fear.”
Silence stretched between us. Then, softer, I admitted, “He’s… unstable. And the worst part is that he doesn’t even know what he wants from me. It’s infuriating to say the least, having to play by his rules despite the rejection.”
Ethan exhaled through his nose, watching me closely once again “It does sound infuriating.”
I licked my lips, the weight in my chest pressing down. “And he's possessive, he has made that clear,” I whispered remembering the forceful kiss when he threatened me about Ethan months ago and his text when I woke from my coma.
Ethan stilled at that, his tapping foot ceasing. I wasn’t sure if I was to proceed. Could he feel what I was feeling? All the confusing bits of flutters and rage?
“He rejected me, made my life hell, and yet,” I let out a sharp breath, looking away. “There’s something in the way he stares at me like he still—” I cut myself off, shaking the ideas out. “I don’t know. But it scares me.”
Something flickered in Ethan’s amber expression when I peered at him and his hands had curled into tight fists. For a moment, he didn’t speak but the room felt dense, on edge, like a word more could tip something over to explode.
Then he stepped even closer, his voice quieter this time. “He doesn’t own you, Harlyn.”
My heart tripped over its rhythm at the intensity in his tone and the warmth of his breath.
“He might be your mate by bond, but that means nothing if he’s not worthy of you.” He asserted unblinking, gaze gently holding mine.
His words settled deep inside me, comforting a part of me that needed to hear them. I held his gaze and my heart continued stuttering for a completely different reason now.
Ethan was too close. Too close. Close enough to kiss him.