Here's Chapter Fifteen, where the
Vexaria should have stopped this before it began.
But standing here, with Xypheron's breath warm against her skin, his fingers grazing her wrist like a silent challenge, she felt like she was standing at the edge of a cliff.
And for the first time, she wasn't sure she wanted to step back.
Xypheron's eyes burned into hers, the air between them thick, suffocating. He was waiting—giving her a choice. He had spent so much time trying to break her, to bend her to his will. But now? Now, he wasn't forcing anything.
And that made it worse.
Because it meant whatever happened next would be her doing.
Her fault.
Her surrender.
Vexaria exhaled, slow and measured, trying to steady the chaos inside her. "If you think this will make me yours," she murmured, "you're a fool."
Xypheron's lips curled, but there was something darker in his expression now—something raw, unguarded. "And if you think this will make me stop, you're the fool."
His grip on her wrist tightened, just enough to make her pulse jump. He was testing her, pushing her, but he wasn't the only one who knew how to play this game.
Vexaria leaned in, closing the distance between them, until her lips were a breath away from his. She felt him tense, his muscles coiling like a predator on the verge of striking.
Then she smirked.
And pulled away.
Xypheron inhaled sharply, his jaw ticking