ASTRID'S POV:
So I did the only thing I could.
I stilled.
Completely.
My body relaxed beneath him, not in submission — in calculation.
The shift caught him off guard. I felt it in the slight hesitation of his grip.
"You're not afraid?" he asked.
I was.
But fear wasn't weakness. It was information.
"I don't know who you are," I said quietly. "That's what makes you dangerous."
For a long moment, he didn't speak.
The tension vibrated between us like a wire pulled too tight.
Then, slowly — painfully slowly — he released my wrists.
He didn't step away immediately.
He hovered there, studying me, as if trying to decide something.
"You're playing a game," he said at last.
"Maybe," I replied.
His hand rose again, brushing lightly along my jaw — not a caress, not quite.
A warning touch.
"If you disappear," he murmured near my ear, "I will find you."
A shiver slid down my spine.
Not because I believed he could.
But because he believed he would.
Then he moved.
