His fingers set a fast pace, his tongue lapping against me, and my muscles quaked. My back bowed straight off the soft grass as blinding pleasure ripped through me. I was falling and flying, hurtling toward nothing, pure ecstasy singing in my soul as he kept the same hard rhythm, allowing me to ride out my high. I screamed his name as I came apart on his lips.
He grinned up at me with feral satisfaction.
“Five seconds. You just beat my record.”
I wanted to hurl some witty retort back at him, but I was so sated I could barely keep my eyes open. I reached for him, but he pulled away, reluctance shining in his eyes.
“Not today, Lirah. We should get you back to the house and cleaned up before supper. Rite training starts tomorrow. You should get a good night’s rest.”
“You haven’t told me about the third Trial yet,” I said through a yawn.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “You’re exhausted. I can feel it.”
Iwasexhausted. And I had been up at an ungodly hour this morning. I could use a bath, a hot dinner and a seven-to-eight-hour sleep.
I re-laced my cuirass and grasped my tunic, my movements sluggish as I pulled it over my head. I slid my pants back up my shaky legs. Kilian hooked a finger in the band where a belt might go, dragging me toward him. His hands fell to my waist.I watched as he buttoned my leathers and zipped the closure back up. He leaned down to press a soft kiss against my head, and I breathed in his scent, letting it flood through me.
Something vital and raw had shifted between us today. I could feel it through the link. In the current of power echoing around him and encircling me.
It was a distressing peculiarity to note that I no longer loathed Kilian Valhan. An oddity to acknowledge that all the energy spent despising him had been a complete and utter waste. That after trying my very best not to, I’d still somehow fallen for the enemy.
And maybe… he wasn’t really the enemy after all.
CHAPTER 19
“You’re not paying attention.” Kilian scowled at me across the sparring mat.
I tore my gaze from Lana beside us. She had, quite literally, been engulfed in golden light just a moment before. Septimus had rushed to absorb some of the overflow magic, helping her to the ground to rest for a moment. Even now, her skin still had a luminescent sheen to it.
The other candidates were in various stages of practice with their instructors as well. The sparring room was set in a simulation of the Rite. Every so often, a current branched out and we were supposed to draw on our respective links to diffuse it.
I glared right back at Kilian. “I am checking on my friend. Can you relax?”
“Septimus is supervising his candidate. He has it under control,” he said through gritted teeth. “You’re too focused on everyone else’s progress instead of your own. Do you want your friends to live while you die, Lirahna? Because that’s what will happen if you do notpay attention.”
I raised a brow, amused by his use of my full name. “Overreact much?”
“Over–? I have half a mind to let you flounder your way through the Rite and see for yourself whether I’m ‘overreacting.’”
“Why don’t you then?” I jibed back.
“Because then you’d be dead. And for some reason I still can’t comprehend, I’d be sad about it.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You know, you should really host a seminar on how to provoke people. You’re certainly overqualified to teach others,” he muttered. “Now, will you stop driving me insane andpleaseconcentrate?”
I glanced at Lana, who was sipping on a blend of electrolytes and water, the glow slowly fading from her skin. Septimus hovered over her protectively.
“I’m fine, Lirah,” she called, noting my concerned stare.
“If you need to rest–”
“I’m alright,” she insisted.
I turned back to Kilian. “Fine. But I wasn’t listening to you the first time you explained it. Can you tell me again?”
He sighed heavily, like I’d just told him we were under enemy attack instead. “When did I lose you?”
