for all that he's cloaked himself in shadow, alina finds that this man she'd thought of as a fathomless mystery — like a stack of matryoshka dolls, opening him up to find more secrets nested inside — is so ...
predictable. so known to her that she'd been anticipating the moment he turns, lured back by the challenge to his pride. so known to her that she's hardly surprised when he tries to aim the arrow of focus back onto her, angling at her wants. her emotions. as if, by unveiling them, he can prove she's the weaker of them for wanting anything at all.
she deliberately doesn't give him the satisfaction of sending her into squirming. instead, she latches onto the swell of something that feels unkind for how pleased it is to evoke that ugly wound of envy within him, lets her small victory march the words forward when she shrugs a lackadaisical shoulder.
the curl of her lip ticks up higher. she sweeps her legs out of the water, tucks them to the side of her, like a mermaid's tail flipping out to sun itself.
unfazed, unbothered, she quips back: ] Well, it's certainly satisfying.
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for all that he's cloaked himself in shadow, alina finds that this man she'd thought of as a fathomless mystery — like a stack of matryoshka dolls, opening him up to find more secrets nested inside — is so ...
predictable. so known to her that she'd been anticipating the moment he turns, lured back by the challenge to his pride. so known to her that she's hardly surprised when he tries to aim the arrow of focus back onto her, angling at her wants. her emotions. as if, by unveiling them, he can prove she's the weaker of them for wanting anything at all.
she deliberately doesn't give him the satisfaction of sending her into squirming. instead, she latches onto the swell of something that feels unkind for how pleased it is to evoke that ugly wound of envy within him, lets her small victory march the words forward when she shrugs a lackadaisical shoulder.
the curl of her lip ticks up higher. she sweeps her legs out of the water, tucks them to the side of her, like a mermaid's tail flipping out to sun itself.
unfazed, unbothered, she quips back: ] Well, it's certainly satisfying.