The Curse (Belador #3)(70)

Please, Quinn.

Why are you asking when you clearly didn’t need permission to enter my hotel room last time?

I’m asking this time.

He had to take care that he made her work for every inch she gained or she’d sense the trap. I found the bracelet of my hair you left in my hotel room.

She said nothing to that, but then how could she?

The bracelet had been a clear message of finally admitting her regret over having ever met him. He just couldn’t understand why she’d wanted to make love with him three weeks back.

No, not make love. That had been a straight-up shagging.

He would not confuse that one time with what had happened between them in Chechnya years ago.

No one could take that from him.

Her voice came to him, a soft plea pushing her words. I don’t think you understand why I left the bracelet, Quinn.

He wrapped the towel around his lower half, tucking the ends, and allowed a healthy dose of frustration to boil through his reply. If we must have this conversation, we might as well have it now. You may enter my hotel room.

Light glowed between him and the wide window.

Tiny sparkles glittered in the air until Kizira took form, every gorgeous inch of her covered in a Mediterranean-blue gown. A river of hair the color of hot embers rushed around her shoulders. She’d actually toned down how brightly she could glow. He’d seen it darker, almost black sometimes. But this color suited her best. Gave her a fiery appeal.

She tested a smile. “Hello, Quinn.”

His body held a party downstairs that kinetics couldn’t stop from pressing against the towel, but that actually worked in his favor to help sell his plan. Sounding angry took little effort when he spoke. “You’re here. Make it quick.”

Her gaze traced his body, pausing at the towel. “Are you going to deny you’re happy to see me?”

“We both know that a penis is easily influenced by the simplest suggestion, such as a woman stroking it … even when the man it belongs to has no control over his mind or actions.”

She raised hurt eyes to him. “I came to tell you I’m sorry.”

“You think saying I’m sorry will work? I got the message you left on my bathroom vanity just fine. Why are you here?”

Shock stole over her face. “No, you don’t understand.” Kizira walked forward, hands clenched. “I left the bracelet to tell you that I regretted what I had to do that night.”

He didn’t understand, which must have shown in his confused expression.

Taking another step closer that put her an arm’s reach away, she said, “I will never regret having met you in Chechnya or the time we spent together. I would never have given up that bracelet if there had been any other way to leave you a message.”

“Explain,” he said with no small amount of suspicion.

“I wanted you to know that it killed me to take advantage of you when your mind was in ruins from a probe, and I’m glad I could ease your pain, but I’m not happy about interrogating you then. I was terrified you wouldn’t recover from the damage you suffered.”

Could that be true? She had eased the hideous explosion of pain in his head … but she’d also withdrawn information about Evalle. Momentarily caught between his duty and his heart, he asked, “Then why did you use me to find Evalle, Kizira?”

“I had no choice.” Her eyes were damp, overflowing with pain. “Flaevynn compelled me to find Evalle immediately. Her compulsion demanded that I find her no matter how I did it. Flaevynn’s compulsion works in strange ways sometimes. To fulfill her order to locate Evalle, I subconsciously tapped into a way to gain that information based on my relationship with you.”

He made a disgusted sound that caused her to rush her words.

“But I’ve kept information about you shielded from Flaeyvnn. I’ve never shared a word about … us. And won’t as long as she doesn’t know to compel me to tell her specifically about you.”

To have been born with such a formidable mind, Quinn cursed how soft his damned heart could be when it came to this woman. She hadn’t wanted to return to the Medb when he’d met her in Chechnya, and to the day he died he’d believe that she had left him back then only to protect him.

But he had a duty to the Beladors, and his connection with Kizira put Brina and the entire Belador tribe at risk. He couldn’t afford to make the mistake of folding to his emotions.

Kizira’s coming here now could be nothing more than another stab at entrapping him.

Cooling his tone, he said, “Then it seems as though I should believe Flaevynn has compelled you to come here today, correct? Since you obviously have no autonomy when it comes to using your body to get what you want.”

She blinked back tears, too strong to cry. “I came on my own today. I’ve been compelled to do a task, but it does not include seeing you, or having sex with anyone. I came here only to apologize for doing something I couldn’t stop, but—” She lifted her chin, fire churning her gaze to the same blazing emeralds that passion had once brought out. “Know this. I don’t regret making love with you thirteen years ago or three weeks ago and won’t let you taint something you enjoyed just as much as I did.”

She had that right.

He bloody wanted her now.

Just as much as he wanted to believe her when she said she’d been compelled.