A Glint of Light: A Bridge and Sword Novel by Andrijeski JC

Author:Andrijeski, JC
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: White Sun Press
Published: 2023-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Breaking Code

On the surface, he just stood there.

He stood over her, jaw clenched, and waited.

When she did nothing but stare back at him, her face blank with what might have been shock, might have been caution⏤might even have been fear, a possibility that made him tired inside, on more than one level⏤he exhaled. He placed his hands on his hips as he relaxed his stance. As he did it, he opened his light.

He still didn’t speak.

He felt like a fool, but he didn’t move.

He simply stood there and waited for her to notice the difference in his aleimi.

He knew, collar or no, she would feel it.

He was still standing there, unmoving, when he felt her notice, right before he glimpsed it in her face. Surprise flickered across her delicate features… a surprise that struck him as unaffected, at least in those first few seconds.

Of course, according to Jon, Balidor would be a sucker for even thinking that.

The thought made him clench his jaw harder.

“What’s it going to take, Cassandra?” he asked. “Are you going to tell me? Or am I just the nightly amusement, in lieu of the guards offering you access to the feeds?”

She blinked up at him.

Her face and eyes rippled briefly with a second flicker of surprise.

He saw it in her light. Her aleimi sparked in colors he’d only seen on her a few times.

Then she leaned back against the wall.

He watched her make an effort to pull that more cynical cloak back over her light and facial expression. He stood so close to her now, he could feel her doing it. He could feel the broken pieces there, the gaps Shadow exploited in her light, the same ones he’d used to break her, to make her dependent on him.

He could see the black, hardened structure that locked down her heart.

He could see it hurting her, like a piece of shrapnel lodged in her lung.

He could feel she was so used to it now she barely noticed, even as it made her wince and clench. Hiding herself. Hiding her light from the world.

Hiding her light from him.

He still looked down at her when he made up his mind.

For real that time.

He reached for the top of his shirt. He started unfastening the catches by his throat and then down his chest. He didn’t take his eyes off her face as he did it, but continued to gauge her expression, his light still more open than not.

It might not be a full request, but he could see her acknowledge the question there, even as incredulity made her expression look almost young.

Then he felt something else.

Pain rippled her light.

It was undeniably sex pain.

Enough of it hit into him that he stumbled in what he’d been doing. He lost track of buttons and button holes. His throat closed as he fumbled with his shirt, trying to get it back. He felt his face heat, but he didn’t avert his gaze from hers.

It struck him suddenly that she wouldn’t have had sex in a long time.

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