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My mind went back to that day and how Malyr had brought up Domren. How he hadn’t made a single mention of the chance that the bastard might not even have been there, but how he had eagerly marked the map, anyway. How, all the while, his horse—which he rarely rode and never for the amusement of humans—had stood saddled and ready in the stables as if…
Oh goddess, help me, what an idiot I was.
“That bastard planned to take you there all along,” I muttered low, feeling like twice the fool over how easily he’d managed me out of the way. Why had he? What was all this about? “Goddess help me, I shouldn’t have left. Shouldn’t have left you alone withhim.”
Shouldn’t have let him kiss her…
“What are you talking about?” Galantia wrapped her arms around herself, fingers mindlessly playing with the edges of her scarf as she frowned at me. “He gave me a wonderful day, Sebian.”
Which was half the fucking problem here, but for reasons I couldn’t quite grasp yet. “This is all so strange… Finding you like this with him.”
Remnants of her smile vanished, seemingly chewed away between her shifting jaws. “We grew… closer while you were gone.”
“Closer?” A laugh burst from my lungs, but I wasn’t feeling amused in the slightest, my voice dripping with bitterness. “Yeah, I could see that when you fucking…devouredeach other on that damn desk.”
He kissed her!
Goddess help me, why did my chest ache?
“You didn’t seem to have an issue with sharing me when you left.” Her expression hardened. “At least he kisses me instead of turning away from it at every chance.”
That shut me up for a second or two. She had a point. For weeks, she’d wanted my kiss. For weeks, I’d refused her, giving Malyr ample opportunity to just… slither into the that space where she was the most vulnerable. She wanted me to kiss her? I would!
“You have no fucking idea how many times I wanted to!” I grabbed her middle and pulled her against me, tightly, loving the way her weight hung on my arm as if her legs were about to give out. “You want me to kiss you, sweetheart, hmm?”
She nodded in frantic little bobs, nervously wetting her lips, her breathing strained and erratic. “Yes.”
I stared at her lips; those peachy, tempting lips that quivered the closer I came with my own. Our breaths melded into heady longing. Our hearts pounded against each other where my chest pressed into hers. I wanted this, and I didn’t give a shit if it was wrong. I could do this!
Until my lips touched hers, full and warm and puffy and soft and giving, reminding me of how they could never truly preen… and… and…
I couldn’t do it.
I pulled back right then, just in time to watch Galantia’s lips pout toward empty air for less than a second before her eyes snapped open and found mine. “I’m sorry, I just…”
Couldn’t give her that…
When my voice trailed off, she stepped back and hooked a finger into her scarf, tugging the fabric down low enough that dark red marks and purple bruises peeked out from behind it. “You don’t have to explain. Malyr already told me.”
My eyes shot back to hers right then, stomach clenching as if someone had punched me in the guts. “Told you what?”
“That kisses are special to your kind, since they’re reserved for one’s mate,” she said, which soothed my pulse into something less panicked, but only slightly. “We both know I can never be that for you.”
That tar dripped down along my ribcage, staining my core black because she had no idea how that didn’t even scratch the surface of how difficult this was for me. There was so much she didn’t know, so much she wouldn’t understand.
Neither was now a good time to try her.
She’d backed away from me already—clearly upset, perhaps even a bit heartbroken—the air between us frigid. I didn’t like it. Didn’t like how we were with each other right now. Maybe I couldn’t give her a kiss, but what about other things? Falling to sleep together? Waking together? Taking care of her?
I’d given her all that, hadn’t I?
And gladly!
I opened the buckles on my cuirass as if it would help my chest expand, not liking how fucking… emotional this was getting. I reached for her scarf, giving a little tug until I managed a good look at… What the fuck was I looking at? A bite mark?
I couldn’t help but shake my head at the sight. “He fucking bit into your scar?”
“It’s fine,” she said as if it was merely a love nibble. “And it’s not what you think.”
