Chapter 159: The Tunic Thief

Sophia’s shriek still echoed through the house when his voice cut through it, low and dry as smoke.

"That’s not how I expected you to welcome me. I thought we were past the shrieking stage?"

The words drew her up short. Her breath hitched in her throat. For a heartbeat, the only sound was the frantic beat of her pulse and then came him.

That scent. That maddening, intoxicating scent that seemed to creep into her lungs and coil around her rib. It filled her home before she even saw him. She hated that her knees weakened from just that.

She swallowed hard, fighting the warmth spreading through her chest, trying to push it away. The pull between them was like invisible hands tugging her forward, wrapping around her as if to remind her that no matter how far she tried to run from it, from him, it would always find her.

Her voice came out smaller than she wanted. "What are you doing here?"

Orion stepped out of the shadows like he’d been carved from them. His hair was slightly disheveled, his tunic half unlaced at the throat, and the little light from the hearth followed him. The hearth was dying down and Sophia noticed she needed to add more woods to it.

Orion didn’t answer right away. Instead, he bent down, picked up a candle from her table, and lit it up. The soft glow spilled across the room and showed his smirk.

"You jump like a chicken, you know that?" he said, eyes gleaming.

Sophia blinked at him, incredulous. "Excuse me?"

"I said..." He lifted a brow, the faintest trace of laughter tugging at his mouth. "...you jump like a chicken. One loud noise and you flap and shriek."

"I heard you the first time." She snapped then folded her hands across her chest, "I do not flap."

"No?" He gestured lazily toward the overturned chair behind her. "Then what was that you did? An artistic expression?"

Her glare could have singed him if he weren’t so amused. "You..." she pointed at him, voice tight, "almost gave me a heart attack."

"Almost? I thought I had better skills than that." He said.

She galred at him and he chuckled.

"At least you are still breathing. You should be grateful for that." he said smoothly, moving closer.

"Grateful?" she scoffed. "You break into my home in the middle of the night and expect me to..."

"Broke in?" He gave a low chuckle that rippled through the air. "Niw let’s not jump to conclusions shorty, I didn’t break anything to get in here so I wouldn’t really call it breaking in and it’s not the middle of the night."

"But it’s night either way and besides, you just admitted to sneaking in."

He tilted his head, feigning thought. "So.maybe I did sneak in but it’s not my fault you were too busy lost in your thoughts to even notice me standing there. I waited for you to notice and had no choice but yo just announce myself and what better way than welcoming you back home."

She rolled her eyes. "You are insufferable."

"We’ve established that." He said with a smile on his face as he closes the distance between them.

Sophia’s pulse spiked. The distance between them was shrinking far too quickly. Every breath she took brought more of his scent, more of that unbearable warmth clawing through her chest. The air felt thick and alive.

She stepped back instinctively, only to feel her spine press against the wooden door behind her. Her heart stuttered.

Orion stopped just short of her, eyes dark in the candlelight. "Why are you avoiding me, Sophia?"

The question landed like a whisper and a command all at once.

Her throat tightened. "I’m not..."

"Careful," he said softly, the faintest amusement touching his words. "You don’t want that lie to escape your mouth now."

Her eyes darted away, anywhere but his. The floor, the wall, the flickering light. She willed her heart to slow down, but it only beat faster, traitorous thing.

When she didn’t respond, he tilted his head, studying her face. "Nothing to say?"

Sophia exhaled sharply through her nose and forced herself to meet his gaze. "What are you doing in my home?" she demanded instead, her voice edged with irritation she didn’t quite feel. "And why, exactly, did you have to sneak in like some kind of thief?"

He laughed quietly, almost under his breath. The sound rumbled low in his chest, warm and infuriatingly smooth.

"If anyone’s a thief here," he said, taking another step closer, his tone threaded with lazy amusement, "it’s likely you."

Her brow furrowed. "What?"

"But you are a different kind of thief though, not the one who’s interested in holds or silvers or coins." He told her.

Sophia could not comprehend what Orion was talking about and what was going through his brain at the moment.

"Orion..." She called out. "Are you drunk?"

Orion paused at that because that was the same question he asked Ronan earlier that morning.

He chuckled then shook his head. "For calling you a thief?" He asked her.

"That and..." She waved at him.

"And?" He asked her.

"I’m not going to say it out loud." She told him.

Orion traced a finger along her jaw and her pulse jumped again, the warmth between them thick enough to taste. She tore her eyes away from his, pretending to be interested in something else entirely so that she wouldn’t have to look at him.

"You still haven’t answered my question," she said finally, forcing her voice steady. "Why are you here?"

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he turned and walked back to the chair, making himself comfortable as he sat down.

The silence stretched between them. The crackle from the hearth filled it, soft and uneven.

"I came," he said quietly, almost as if he were telling a secret, "to retrieve my tunic."