My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 369

Lyra

I stared at the withered flower pinched between Nadia's fingers. "Where's this from?" she asked, tilting her head, a smile playing at the edge of her lips. Her dark eyes glinted with amusement as she turned the brittle petals over and over.

I felt my skin crawl under the weight of her scrutiny. My heart rate spiked. I swallowed hard against the urge to snatch the flower from her grasp, to cradle it against my chest like the precious, secret thing it was.

"You sentimental little thing," she teased, voice light, careless. "Since when are you keeping trinkets like this?"

I tried to deflect. My throat was tight, but I pushed out words. "It's nothing, Nadia. Please put it back."

Nadia only laughed. The sound was rich, rolling over me like a wave, but it did nothing to loosen the knot in my chest. I'd already reached my breaking point, but still she held onto the flower, taunting me with it. She waved the delicate petals near my nose and I had to clench my fists at my sides to stop myself from reaching for it.

"Oh, Lyra," she said, shaking her head in mock dismay. "I didn't know you kept things like this. You must be going soft."

I didn't know why she was doing this. Why she couldn't see that every moment she held onto that flower was a moment my anxiety grew, a moment the panic in my chest threatened to boil over. Why couldn't she let it go?

I tried again to take the flower. "It's not a big deal, Nadia," I said, striving for patience I no longer possessed. "Just put it down."

But Nadia was still laughing, still not reading the warning signs in my voice. She held the flower out of reach, her eyes sparkling. "You're acting strange over a dead flower. You're really softening up, aren't you?"

That was the final push. The final thread of my patience snapped.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify