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Her body began to sway toward his the moment before he said, "You need to brush this out"

"I washed it" She picked up a brush, fighting the urge that threatened to destroy what little control she’d ether "But it’s so knotted, I couldn’t get it sht be easier to cut it"

"Give it to ed her back toward the bed

The slight touch jolted her,But she headed away from the bed and to the chair instead "There’s no sunshine here" Sunshine The word ricocheted around her head, echoes upon echoes Sunshine A painful thudding in her heart, a sense that she’d forgotten soain, but the echo was already fading, lost in the fog of herup above," Dev said "But the sun’s out - we’re just too far down" He waited until she was seated before beginning to brush her hair She didn’t knohat she’d expected, but the patience hich he untangled the knots wasn’t it

So those saentle hands to end her life And yet she continued to sit, her body vulnerable, the tender skin of her neck tingling where his fingers grazed it More, she wanted to say, please Instead of betraying the depth of her need, instead of begging, she gripped the sides of the chair, thewarm under her palms But no matter the touch of heat, it wasn’t real, wasn’t hus," she blurted out

He didn’t pause "What things?"

She found herself leaning back toward hiry for contact that her skin felt as if it was parched, dying of thirst "I know about the world I know I’m Psy I know I shouldn’t be able to feel es that twisted and tore at her, de to surface

And beneath it all was terror Endless Wordless Always

Dev’s fingers touched her nape, vivid warmth and silent demand "How h Pieces" She breathed deep, found that the scent of him, rich and dark below the crispness of the aftershave, was in her lungs It o damp "When people speak, when I watch the news channel, I understand And I know other thingsI knoho - what - you are I knohat Shine is It’s onlycos on her scalp "You dream"

A pulse of dread, bile in her throat "I don’t want to"

"It’s a way for your brain to process things"

Her ar herself so stiffly, her o of the chair, she focused on the repetitive strokes through her hair, the feel of the bristles, the aggressive male heat of the man behind her "I’m a threat"

"Yes"

That he hadn’t lied almost made her feel better "What will you do with me?"

"For now? Keep you close"

"Don’t" It ca with ness was an alien silhouette in the back of her skull, a wave of whispers she couldn’t quite hear

"I know" He didn’t sound too worried, but then, she thought, he was a man who’d likely never known fear She knew it too well, until the acid of it stained her very cells But she still had herfrom me" Why else would he keep her alive, keep her close?

"Do you reray eyes, dark hair in wildfire curls, coffee-colored skin Ashaya "She was here?" Her skin stretched as lines for, easy strokes through hair that no longer needed to be so stay with her"

Katya was shaking her head before he finished speaking "No" Fear closed around her throat, brutal hands that choked her until she couldn’t breathe Pinpricks of light in front of her eyes, agony in her chest

The tugs on her scalp ceased and a split second later, Dev was crouching in front of her, his hands over hers "Breathe" A ruthless order, given in the voice of ainto those not-brown eyes, she tried to find some sense of balance, of self "Breathe," she repeated in a thin whisper that was barely sound "Breathe" Air whistled into her lungs, heady with the exotic taste of abut an enemy

At that moment, she didn’t care