Zero Affection Behind His Vows Chapter 06

Zero Affection Behind His Vows Chapter 06 Promises Expire

Shas’s whole face locked down.

“Wren Frost.” He stared at ine and pitched his voice low. “Do you understand what you’re saying?”

I rested a moment and got my breath back. “I do… I also know Callum is never going to love me… and he doesn’t really love Clara either. What he loves is the way she needs protecting… He likes her soft, he likes her kind… So what happens the day she stops fitting that picture?”

I held his gaze without blinking. “Tell me. What does he do then?”

Silas stayed where he was, and the color went out of his face.

It took him a while to answer. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. You’re also more dangerous.”

He turned, walked to the doorway, and stopped there without looking back. “If you touch Clara, I’ll come for

you.”

Propped on the straw, I forced my answer out a piece at a time. “I was… never the one hurting her. You and Callum… did that. Between the two of you, you turned her into somebody… who has to get kidnapped before anybody notices her.”

The curtain dropped back into place and the room went quiet.

Both sprites beat their little wings like mad.

“She actually said it!”

“And she’s right! Soft, sweet, needs saving. That’s the whole package.”

“If Clara ever stopped being sweet, would he still love her?”

“Okay, now I need to see where this goes.”

I looked toward the doorway, where the sunlight lay bright across the ground.

The countdown was still running, and it sat at 7 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes.

I had seven and a half days left, and that was enough time to do a great deal.

*****

The next afternoon found me sitting up with a bowl of broth when the felt curtain lifted and Callum stood there in the daylight.

“They told me you were awake,” he said. “I came to see you.”

Verna left us. I set the bowl down and stayed where I was while the wound in my neck pulled.

He had faint shadows under his eyes, and something I couldn’t read sat heavy behind them.

He came two steps closer. “How’s the wound?”

I raised a hand toward the thick hide wrapped around my throat, and my voice came out like sandpaper on

god. “Still… breathing.”

He was quiet a moment, then pulled a small leather pouch from inside his robe and set it beside the pallet. “This one works on claw wounds.”

The sprites perked up.

“Is he feeling guilty now?”

“Guilt’s worth nothing. He nearly killed her.”

“Wren is ice cold right now. Love it.”

He hesitated. “About Clara. We caught the ones who took her, and it had nothing to do with you. I got it

wrong.”

“Okay,” I said.

“That’s your reaction?” His voice came up a notch.

“What did you expect?” I pushed myself upright by degrees, and what came out of my throat was thin and broken. “You almost… killed me. If Verna hadn’t found me… when she did, I’d have been cold hours ago. And then… what? Would you have cried over me, or been relieved there was one less problem?”

The color kept draining out of his face. “I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was just… I wasn’t thinking straight…”

“Not thinking straight enough to put your claws through my neck without a second of hesitation?” I laughed, and it pulled at the wound.

“Callum, do you know what came back to me while your hand was on my throat? Six years ago, right after we got together… I cut my finger carving meat at the stone hearth. You panicked and went out that same night to beg medicine off somebody, and you told me… you’d never let anybody hurt me, and that included yourself.”

I watched his fingertips tremble.

rns out a promise like that has a short shelf life.”

Callum took a step back like something had hit him.

He opened his mouth to say something, and nothing came out.

The sprites spoke up beside my ear.

“It’s starting to hurt him.”

“Not nearly enough.”

“I want him bawling.”

Right then, the curtain was thrown back and Clara Fenn rushed in, pale, her eyes rimmed red.

Finished

She didn’t even glance at me. She went straight into Callum’s arms. “Callum! I finally found you! They said you were out here…”

She lifted her head and let a tear fall right on cue. “Did you come to see Wren? I’m sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t been taken, you’d never have suspected her.”

She turned toward me and bent her head almost to her chest. “Wren, I’m so sorry! I had no idea he’d do that to you. If I’d known, I never would have…”

“Would never have what?” I cut her off with a voice that was still wrecked. “Never have turned up right beside the pride? Never have thrown yourself at him the second you saw him? Never have kissed him the minute you were safe?”

Clara froze.

Callum’s brows pulled together. “Wren, she’s the victim here. How can you…”

“The victim?” I said. “Callum, did you even look into the ones who took her? What were they doing before this? Why her, out of everybody on the plain? What did they ask for? Did they get it?”

“I…” Callum stopped there.

“You never checked, did you,” I said. “You don’t want the truth. You wanted a reason, something that made it all right to hurt me. And now you’ve got one.”

I looked at the stiff line of Clara’s back. “Nice performance, Clara. But remember something next time. If you want people to ache for you, the wound goes where they can see it. You don’t hide it under a sleeve.”

Clara spun around, and her left wrist pulled back without her meaning it to.

A thin strip of hide was wound around it and tucked under her cuff, invisible unless somebody was looking for it.

Callum’s eyes went to her wrist and narrowed.