Page 104 of A Veil of Gods and Kings

I rolled my eyes. “You take the fun out of everything.”

He huffed but pushed out of his seat. “I’m assuming you’re veiling us again?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

When he returned, he crossed his arms. “Who will you make me look like today?”

I stepped in closer to him, feathering my fingers over his collarbone. “Do you have a preference?”

“Whatever you find attractive.”

I placed a kiss on his neck, and he shuddered against me. “I’m afraid I can’t keep your present looks, sadly. So, I guess I’ll have to go with your second preference.”

He didn’t answer, and I pulled back to find him studying me with a look of such intensity my stomach swirled. Every day with him seemed to dip our relationship deeper into something I couldn’t quite name. It would drown us, I was sure of it, but knowing that didn’t make me wish to kick for the surface, anyway. He cleared his throat. “What you did last time was fine.”

I bobbed my head and pushed my powers out. His skin glimmered in the magic for a moment, and his features transformed. It ached at me to lose that beauty. It was like swapping a rare flower for common weeds. I tightened my veil, drawing in all the godlike aspects, and traced my thumb over his cheek. “You’re beautiful, Hyacinth. You should know that.”

His lips found mine, his touch coming rough. He squeezed his fingers into my shoulder and swept his free hand behind my back. I finished the kiss and allowed the bubbling feeling of the universes splitting open to swell within me before drawing away.

Gods, I was an asshole for allowing this to go on. For continuing to let him get further tangled up in me. This man deserved so much better.

“So, what are we doing to make the night memorable?” he said.

I pushed back as the guilt gnawed at me. “Have you ever had a kebab?”

Hyacinth huffed a laugh against my cheek. “A what?”

“You know, meat skewered on a stick and cooked over a fire.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m not.”

“You don’t eat meat.”

“But you do. And I can order mine with just vegetables.” I glided my fingers over his arms one last time before stepping away from him and pulling a tunic out of my knapsack for him. “Here, get dressed, and we can go.”

He wrinkled his nose but removed his robe, draping it over the back of a chair, and then peeled his shirt off. His tan skin and long muscles gleamed like satin. I crossed my arms. “Is this a distraction technique to keep us here, so you can avoid wearing a normal outfit?”

He sauntered over like a cat full of cream, knowing it only needed to purr for more. “Don’t lie to me,” he said. “You know you like my clothes.”

I scoffed. “I like the man in the clothes. Now, get dressed, or I really will keep you locked in here instead.”

“That sounds appealing.”

“More appealing than eating street food on a stick?”

He blinked twice and chuckled. “A few months ago I would have answered that as if it were an actual question.”

“And a few months ago I would have made fun of you for that.”

He laughed but pulled the tunic on.

An hour later, kebabs in hand, we climbed to a flat roof that overlooked the city. I trembled as the world below blurred, but then I tucked down beside Hyacinth, and suddenly the height of it didn’t seem to bother me as much. Plums and peaches swirled together in the sky, oil lamps flickering on like a hundred fallen stars peppered through the town. Hyacinth released a breath. “I’ve never seen the city from this perspective.”

“It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”