He continued to hold my gaze. “I didn’t think you’d care. Didn’t realize your feelings were so profound until now. Assumed this was just a physical relationship, infatuation, lust—”

“Have you ever seen me this way with a woman?”

He didn’t answer.

“My feelings were profound the day I looked at her for the first time. Don’t pretend you didn’t know that.”

Guilt moved into his eyes.

“But luckily for you, it doesn’t matter. Whether she really wants to be with me or not, she’s all I want.”

Magnus gave a nod. “Then I’m happy for you.”

I crossed the grounds and marched toward my brother’s cabin.

It was sunset, the sky barely lit with a sea of orange and yellow. The heat immediately dimmed once evening had arrived. The torches were lit along the cabins, casting light to replace the fading sun.

I stopped at the door, stared at it for a while as if expecting it to open on its own. When that didn’t happen, I pounded my closed knuckles against the wood before I stepped back.

Magnus opened the door a moment later. Barefoot and in his sweatpants, he looked at me quizzically because I never came to him. He always came to me. His hair was ruffled like he’d recently gotten out of the shower. He stepped out and shut the door behind him, silently asking what I wanted.

I nodded to the door. “I want to speak to her.”

It took him a moment to understand the request. Once he did, his eyebrows furrowed. “Why—”

“That’s my business. Not yours.”

He immediately turned defensive, as if I were his enemy rather than his flesh and blood. He absent-mindedly positioned his body directly in front of the door, like that would be enough to stop me if I wanted her.

“It’ll only take a moment.”

“I can convey whatever message you wish to give—”

“Not the way I can.”

His jaw clenched noticeably, his muscular arms tightening at the provocation.

“Bring her out here. Or I’ll let myself inside.”

He started to fume.

“If I were here to kill her, she would be dead already. Stop this guard-dog bullshit and step aside.”

He clenched his jaw before he returned to the cabin and shut the door.

I waited.

And waited.

And fucking waited.

The door opened again. Magnus stepped out first.

She came next.

She was in a tank top and his sweatpants, her face plain and hideous. She had muscular arms from working in the camp for so long. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. She was so ordinary that I would probably forget what she looked like the second this conversation was over.

She didn’t tremble in fear. She stood tall and proud—and faced me head on.

Magnus stayed.

I shifted my gaze to him. “Leave.”