She tried to relax further. ‘Hey.’
‘I thought you’d still be up,’ he said, rain glittering in his dark hair, a flicker of a smile on his lips.
She felt her own tug up in response. ‘How did it go? Anything?’
His chest expanded with a deep breath, the T-shirt protesting. ‘Yeah. The Druid’s Irish, I could feel it in the magic.’
‘How do you feel about that?’ she asked softly.
He looked around, as if uncertain. ‘I don’t know.’
Nicole’s heart ached at that lost look on his face.
She toed the chair on her left closer to him and Kyan sank into it. The wide arc of his shoulders drooped and his thighs spread, as if he’d kept up the stoic facade as long as possible.
Tentatively, she stroked his knee, finding thick muscle and the shape of the bone; heat, even through his jeans. He shivered, his fingers closing over hers – rough but startlingly warm, the touch lacing her with awareness.
His eyes locked on hers, simmering with so much emotion. Tiredness. A flicker of haunted green. And—
Yearning.
Nicole swallowed, squeezed softly. ‘Kyan … maybe you should come with us. I don’t want you to go back to the Wake now they’ve given you the mission to hunt me.’ That was an understatement. The idea was going to keep her up tonight. ‘You can come with us and we’ll hide together.’
The solemn knowledge in his eyes turned her skin clammy. ‘They’ll hunt us down,mo gh—’ He cut himself off, and she struggled to figure out what he’d been about to say.
Instead, she scooted closer, squeezing his hand. She soaked in the width of his knuckles, the veins trailing up to his forearms, the reassurance of his capable fingers.
‘I’ll fight them,’ she whispered. ‘We’ve been off their radar before. We can do it again.’
The worry in his eyes transformed into affection. He brought her hand up to his mouth and brushed his lips across her fingers. ‘I know. But I don’t want you or your family getting hurt.’
If that was the case, then she just needed to figure all of this out faster. It was all shecoulddo. But it didn’t stop her wanting to pull out her hair.
She wanted to help, to keep him safe, tofixthis.
Instead, she’d been playing with this damn mystery all night with no success.
‘Remi and I are going to try Manchester Gallery tomorrow. I’ll find something, okay?’
He smiled. ‘I have no doubt. Callum’s already asked Luca to be on stand-by for you in case the museum lead is promising. He can wipe any footage.’
‘All right, that’ll make things easier. I’ll find something. Look.’ With her free hand she dragged a second-hand laptop closer. ‘I googled glass flowers, but the only ones I could find are in the US, and I don’t think the clue would take us so far away from the Muse if she’s the one that’s supposed to give us something in return.’
‘I agree.’ His brow furrowed in thought, as he stroked the graphite on the crescent of her hand, the touch light and tickling.
Her head tilted. ‘Is that … my hair tie?’
His attention shot down to the band around his wrist. Before he could move, she ran her finger beneath it. Realising how tight it was, Nicole stroked the skin, soothing it.
Kyan shuddered, his jaw tight.
That slumbering warmth inside her began to spiral outwards.
‘You kept this?’ she whispered.
‘Maybe it was a little reckless. But it – it smelled like you. It reminded me of everything.’
Everything. Including that last night when he’d told her, ‘I’ll have to give you something else to remember.’
