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Something clicked, and Jari threw himself back. “Fucking Elira. I knew it was the rose.”
Aurelius dragged in a breath as his eye burned, and he leaned forward. Something told him to get the rose because it was fucking his, and no one else could have what washis.
But he could think even though his eye watered and stung, and he was sure grit was stuck in his messy hair. He didn't need to gild Jari.
“Salt’s in the locket. If you try to take it out, I’ll hold you down, and strap the whole fucking salt cellar to you somehow.”
Dear Elira, Aurelius still wasn’t himself, but he could fucking think. He lifted his head to look at Jari who was a bit blurry as his eye kept watering.
“I won’t gild you.” He wouldn’t.
Jari, pressed against the edge of the table with his dagger in his hand, relaxed a bit. “If you move for that rose…”
He should put Aurelius down and end his suffering because this was surely only temporary. The urge was still strong, and how was he supposed to live while fighting it? That wasn’t life. “Kill me.”
“No.”
“Jari-please.”
“I helped you. I’m not killing you. You’re still in there. Damn it, Aurelius, I know you’re still fucking in there, and I’m not fucking giving you up. Why do you think I came all of this way? I’m not letting you go.”
His guard had come this far for him. Aurelius fumbled for the pitcher and dragged it closer before he shoved the napkin into it to dab at his eye even as hot tears welled again.
“You’re there, okay? It’s you.”
“I’m not the man you last saw.” Aurelius pressed the soaked corner to his eye. “I touched it. I didn’t think it’d be like this.”
“You will be.”
Jari sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. The rose was somewhere behind Aurelius. He could get it. It was just a little salt on him, and he could rip off the locket. He threw down the napkin and stood because he needed something else to ground him. Jari moved as if to block him, and Aurelius grabbed his shirt to shove him back and against the table.
“Aurelius-wait-”
Chapter Six
Jari had fucked up. He’d end up suffocating in gilt. Aurelius held him by the collar of his shirt and kept him against the edge of the table. The white of his eye was bloodshot. As for the rest…
Only a thin sliver of blue remained. Even Eurig’s eye hadn’t had so much gold.
The Prince’s chest heaved as he stared at Jari. Hopefully, he wasn’t planning to repeat what he’d seen in the entrance hall although Jari had a feeling who that might be and why it had been so vicious. He thought the salt would work in a flash of insight at Aurelius’s words about the cellar so he’d knocked the rose away.
Unless it had been a lie and a distraction.
Aurelius pushed him back so hard, Jari had two choices: hope his back could bend in a way it probably shouldn’t, or lift his legs to ease it. Aurelius’s mouth was hot on his, and he hooked his legs around the Prince’s slim body as it pushed and demanded.
“Wait, Aurelius.”
The Prince grabbed both sides of his head and threaded his fingers through Jari’s messy hair. “I don’t want to wait. I need it.”
His erection pressed against Jari, whose own started to respond. He dagger clunked on the table.
“Did you really come back for me?”
“Yes.”
Aurelius’s breath puffed over his ear. “Where are the items?”
“Where we left them.”
