Evaline:
Being alone with River in one room was already enough to make my heart hamr, but now... now the entire mansion felt too quiet.
Draven and Oscar had just left, their laughter still faintly echoing in my ears, but their absence was loud. Too loud. It was just and River now... well, and the servants and guards sowhere in the distance, but they didn’t count. Not when every step River took seed to resonate through , every quiet glance stealing my breath.
I couldn’t even disappear into my bedroom to avoid him. My legs refused to move, my heart was doing sorsaults, and instead of fleeing, I stood rooted in place like so deer caught in headlights.
Fumbling with my fingers, I darted glances everywhere except at him - the polished floor, the crackling fire in the living room fireplace, the grand staircase. Anywhere but his face.
And then, inevitably, I did look.
He was standing a few paces away, hands in his pockets, watching with an expression that didn’t belong to him... or at least, not the him I thought I knew. There was no coldness. No rigid mask of duty. His deep green eyes which usually looked sharp and unreadable, now held warmth. His lips were curved, ever so slightly, into the gentlest trace of a smile.
That softness... it didn’t belong on River Thorne’s face. He wasn’t supposed to look at like that. He wasn’t supposed to have this kind of tenderness hidden beneath his armor. And yet, here it was... like so secret he was quietly offering , one he never showed to anyone other than his brothers.
The realization made my chest tighten painfully. I wasn’t ready for this side of him. I didn’t know how to respond. So I stayed quiet, hoping he would take pity on and break the silence first.
Thankfully, he did.
"Do you have any plans for the evening?" he asked, his voice steady, calm.
I shook my head quickly. "No."
He nodded, as though he had expected that answer. "Then how about this... we play a ga."
My brows lifted. "A ga?"
He tilted his head slightly, studying with quiet amusent. "Yes. If I win, we spend the evening my way. If you win, we’ll spend it your way... even if your idea is simply to have dinner and hide away in your room."
I swallowed. Oh, he knew too well. The temptation was strong - victory ant I could retreat to safety, tuck myself beneath my blankets, and pretend none of this heart-racing nonsense existed.
It actually sounded fair, maybe even fun. So I nodded, curiosity outweighing my nerves. "Alright. What ga?"
For a mont, he didn’t answer. Instead, he started walking toward , each step asured and deliberate. My pulse skyrocketed. He stopped when there was barely any space left between us, and before I could process, he leaned down, bringing his face level with mine.
"Tell ," he murmured, his voice impossibly soft, "what ga are you terrible at?"
My lips parted, but no sound ca out. My mind blanked completely. I could barely rember my own na, let alone answer him. The closeness, his gaze, the low timbre of his voice... it unraveled in ways I couldn’t explain.
And why was he asking about what ga I was terrible at? So that I end up losing?
He was studying my reaction while I struggled to understand what he up to. And then, for the briefest heartbeat, he smiled. Not the tiny, polite curve of lips he sotis gave others, but a real smile. Bright, amused, unguarded. It lit up his face, transforming him into soone even more breathtaking than his usual handso face that sothing inside stumbled, hard.
I must have looked ridiculous, standing there frozen, because he straightened quickly and cleared his throat, as though hiding the smile he hadn’t ant to show. "Truth and dare," he said, his composure sliding neatly back into place. "Whoever fails their turn loses."
Truth and dare. My nerves prickled. A part of was telling this wasn’t the right ga. Still, I nodded. "Okay."
"Good. I’ll start." His voice carried a quiet confidence, like he already knew the outco. "Dare."
I blinked. Already? My brain scrambled for sothing that might challenge him. Sothing outrageous. Sothing he would never accept. The first thought that popped into my head slipped out before I could stop it.
"Give a month off from internship without cutting my salary."
The words hung in the air, bold and ridiculous. My eyes widened. What did I just say?!
But what turned out even more ridiculous was his response. He didn’t hesitate. Not even for a second. "Done," he said smoothly, as if I had asked him to fetch a glass of water.
My jaw nearly hit the floor. "You-you can’t be serious."
He arched an eyebrow. "A dare’s a dare."
I just stared at him, stunned, trying to process the fact that I had essentially dared him into doing sothing I knew he would never agree to... and yet he had. Casually. Effortlessly. Like bending rules for wasn’t a big deal at all.
Before I could recover, he leaned forward slightly, his voice low. "Your turn. Truth or dare?"
"Truth," I blurted, thinking it was safer than another disastrous dare.
He moved closer again, lowering himself just enough that his eyes were level with mine, his face so close I could feel his warm breath. "Have you started liking ?"
The question slamd into like a tidal wave. My heart stopped, then raced so fast I thought it might burst. My lips parted, but no words ca. I was drowning in his gaze, in the intensity of the question, in the unbearable closeness that made my thoughts scatter into nothing.
Say sothing, Eva. Anything.
But nothing ca out. Not even a whisper.
His eyes softened, but he didn’t let look away. And in that mont, I knew... I had lost the ga.
Was it so hard to say no? Absolutely not!
What I actually found impossible was to say... Yes!
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