Page 101 of Zenith Tower

Relief moved along the new line, tired and cautious. Whatever Astra had found in Kieran’s room had eased some of her fear. She told me the rest when she entered.

“His pulse is steadier,” she said. “The healer thinks he’ll sleep through most of the night. Caspian is staying with him.”

She closed the door and leaned against it.

The administrator had cleared the corridor, citing Kieran’s need for quiet and my need for treatment. It would hold until the Council answered her orders. No one expected that answer to be kind.

Astra had washed the pencil from Kieran’s shoulder. A gray smear remained along the side of her hand.

“You should be with him,” I said.

“He needs sleep more than he needs me watching him. Caspian stayed.” She looked at the copper light still moving beneath my skin. “I’m where I want to be.”

I had removed my shirt after she left. The fabric had begun to stick to the burns on my forearm, and peeling it away had reopened one of them. Fresh linen covered the worst of the skin. It did nothing to dim the Mark.

Astra crossed the room.

Her gaze moved from the bandage to my face. “Does the bond hurt?”

“No. The arm does.”

Her brows rose at the unprompted admission.

“I’m trying something new.”

Her mouth curved, but weariness kept the expression brief.

I reached for her hand. The moment our palms met, the line warmed. Her relief over Kieran came through more clearly, tangled with anger, exhaustion, and desire she had not attempted to hide.

I hardened against her before I found anything useful to say.

Astra’s gaze dropped between us, then rose to my face.

“Is that the bond?” she asked.

“No.”

This time her smile remained.

I drew her between my knees. She touched the bare skin above the bandage, following the outer curve of the Mark with one finger. Copper light gathered beneath it.

She bent and kissed the place where the Mark disappeared beneath the linen.

The contact went through me with startling force. I caught her hip with my uninjured hand. Her mouth moved higher along my arm, over old scars and newly visible copper, until she reached the inside of my elbow. My breath caught.

She straightened. “Pain?”

“No.”

I put my hand behind her neck and kissed her.

The kiss in this room earlier had torn the last of mysuppression open. This one began after the line had closed. I could feel how tired she was in the weight of her body against mine and the slow way her fingers spread across my shoulder. I could also feel how much she wanted me.

I opened the first fastening at her collar.

“Tell me to stop,” I said.

“I won’t.”