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Then her finger twitched.
"Sorry," Graeson mumbled.
He went to pull back his hand. But before he could and before she could think better of it, she interlaced her fingers in his. Her mother’s ring clanked against his, and Graeson's breathing halted. She shifted to face him.
In the moonlight, his dark hair gave off an almost blue sheen. And feeling her gaze on him, Graeson turned his head toward her. Half of his face now shaded in darkness, while the other half still radiated from the moon's rays. Maybe, like Kallie,Graeson had two sides to him as well. Both of them had monsters that resided somewhere deep within them. Maybe he would understand the predicament she was in. After all, the more time she spent with the man, the more it seemed like they were cut from the same cloth. As though their souls were both tainted by the chaos of their upbringings, the pressures of their kingdoms. Still, they had different roles to play. The princess and the warrior.
She continued to observe his features. If he tried to use it against her tomorrow, she would blame it on the alcohol.
A strand of hair fell across his face, and Kallie had the sudden urge to brush it from his face. But instead, she restrained herself and traced it with her eyes instead. Her gaze fell onto his scar glowing beneath the moonlight. Even though she knew she shouldn't stare in such an obvious manner, she couldn't look away. And neither did Graeson turn away.
Kallie had wondered how he had gotten the scar, but now she knew.
"It was him, wasn't it?" Her words were no more than a whisper. As she ran the tip of her finger along one of the scars, his eyes shut. Wrinkles formed on his face as though he was recalling the memory of that night. When he opened them, she let her gaze meet his. The gray sparkled, the color stark against his pitch-black pupils that bore down into her sea of blue.
"Is that why you hate him so much?" The memory she had relived tonight hadn't shown her, but she thought she knew the moment it happened.
"Kal."
Her gaze skittered across his face. He had never called her that before. It was alwaysprincessorlittle mouse,but never her actual name. And definitely not a version of her name that no one else had ever called her. And despite her wishes, her breath hitched in her throat.
He sighed. "Does it matter?" His voice was gentle, but sadness laced his words.
"Yes—no." Her mind struggled to understand why she wanted to know, why she had even bothered to ask. Did it matter? Knowing wouldn't change anything. His feelings toward King Domitius should not influence her own. Except it would mean that he had been there. That he had saved her from the fire, had tried to save her from the king. And she didn't know what that would even mean, but she wanted to know.
"Yes," she finally said.
"That night we both lost so much." He rested his hand on top of hers, which had, at some point, stopped tracing the scar and now lay still on his face, practically caressing it. "And there are scars that go much deeper than these."
Her eyes caught on his mouth. She immediately looked away toward the bushes behind him, but the greenery swirled. In her head, she cursed herself for having drank so much, for her head was still clouded. Everywhere she looked spun, besides when she looked directly in front of her. So she relented and returned her gaze to him. "Like what?"
His thumb moved in slow circles on the back of her hand. "A story for another night perhaps." His gaze was full of promises and unsaid truths. And she wondered what he saw in her expression. If he saw the darkness that lay beneath, her desires, her weaknesses.
Her eyes dropped to his mouth. A sad smile graced his lips, and Kallie wondered how they would feel on hers. Would her touch wipe away the expression? Or would it only increase it?
"Kal."
It was a warning, but Kallie had never been good at heeding the warnings of men.
She inched forward, her forehead pressing up against his, his breath mingling with hers. And she paused, waiting for him to back away, waiting for him to pull back. Giving him a chance to tell her no.
Through her lashes, she saw him staring at her lips, felt his breathing picking up, was overcome by the scent of cedar and citrus. The orange aroma begged her to fill the space between them. But Kallie hesitated.
For one moment of her life, she didn't want to think about the consequences that came from her actions. For one moment, she wanted to do something that wasn't dictated by the king or the gods. For one moment, she wanted to have control.
And perhaps, the gods would be by her side, and come morning, she would have no recollection of this misstep.
She closed her eyes and closed the distance between them. Her lips met his, the softness and warmth almost surprising considering everything she had learned about him.
The kiss was slow, featherlight as if they were testing the waters. As if the slower they went, the longer they had here under the stars where no one but the gods could see. Where they didn't have to think about fires or lies. Or the past that had them so entwined that it was nearly impossible to separate themselves from the actions of others.
Graeson pulled back an inch, and her lips felt cold without the warmth of his on hers. "Little mouse."
"No," she said, "don't."
She knew what he would say if she let him. How this was a mistake, how she was drunk and didn't know what she was thinking. And while both of those things were true, she was coherent enough to know a part of her wanted this, needed this.
She slipped her hand from underneath his and tugged the fabric of his shirt, forcing his lips back onto hers. His hand moved to the base of her neck, his calloused fingers sendinga sweet chill across the skin he touched. And then he met her with the same thirst as he pulled her head closer to his. The softness of that first kiss long since forgotten. Now replaced by something more urgent, bruising, filled with something that would continue to go unspoken between them.
