Page 34 of On Burning Paths

"I'll come with you," Thorian says, already standing. His tone leaves no room for debate. "And keep an eye out for the warlocks."

We move together in a different direction, away from where Talon and I had been, and though Thorian keeps his head on a swivel. The forest around us seems undisturbed. Magnus must be long gone by now.

Just thinking about him sends a shudder down my spine. A trapping spell, Talon had said. For what? To trap me? To what end?

"Nyx." Thorian's deep voice cuts through my thoughts, and I realize he's stopped and is looking at me intently. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

He's quiet for a moment, choosing his words with the same deliberateness he applies to everything. "I'm worried about how quickly you've formed bonds with the others. With Fenric." A pause. "With Talon especially. You don't know these men. Not really."

"I know enough," I say.

"You've known Talon for next to no time."

"And I know he stepped in front of a spell meant for me without a second thought." I hold his gaze. "I know Fenric helps us without us even having to ask. I know you've kept us alive and moving and together through every trial we've faced." I take a small step toward him. "I know all three of you have good hearts."

Something tightens in his jaw. "Don't include me in that."

"Why not? It's true."

"It isn't," he says, with a flatness that tells me he believes it completely.

"Thorian."

"I have done things, Nyx. Things that would change what you think when you look at me."

"Maybe," I say quietly. "But I see who you are now. I see how you move through the world, how you treat the people in your care, what you're willing to sacrifice." I close the remaining distance between us, and after a moment his arms come around me, slow and almost reluctant, like he's still deciding whether he's allowed. I press my cheek to his chest and feel the tension in him, the resistance of a man who has spent a long time not being held. "You can tell me you don't have a good heart as many times as you like. I'll keep not believing you."

The silence holds for a long moment.

"No one has ever accused me of having a good heart," he says finally, his voice low and rough at the edges.

"Everyone is crazy."

Another pause. His arms tighten slightly.

"No one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel, either," he says. "So perhaps you've earned the right to be wrong about me."

I glance up at him. “How do I make you feel?”

His dark brown eyes hold mine. “You know how you make me feel.”

“Do I?”

He sighs. “Fuck, Nyx. Like I’ve lost my mind.”

It's enough for me. I lift up on to my tiptoes and press my lips to his.

For a half second he goes very still, and then his hand slides to the back of my neck and he takes over entirely, tipping my head up and kissing me with a certainty that steals the breath from my lungs. There's nothing tentative about it. Nothing exploratory. He kisses me like he's been thinking about it all his life, and the realization of that moves through me like warm water.

I slide my hands up his chest, feeling the hard planes of him beneath the fabric, the solidness of a man built by years of hard living. He's warm under my palms, warmer than I expected, and I press closer without meaning to, drawn in by the heat of him, by the smell of him, those warm forest notes that have started to feel like safety to me in a way I didn't anticipate and can't fully explain.

Like I was always going to end up here. Like the Trials, the swamp, the cemetery, all of it was leading to this stretch of forest and this man's mouth on mine.

He makes a low sound against my lips and shifts us, one hand dropping to my hip, and then I have my back against the bark of a tree and I gasp at the change in angle, the weight of him against me. His stubble drags along my jaw as he drops his head, kissing down the side of my neck, and the scrape of it against the sensitive skin there sends a shiver all the way down my spine. My fingers curl into his shirt.

I want more. The wanting of it surprises me, how immediately and completely it takes over.