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The following morning, Kiara woke in my arms, her fists clutching my shirt for dear life. I suspected she knew I was awake, but we remained entangled in one another, relishing these final moments.
I’d spent all my life waking alone, but after three days of having her sleep beside me, her head resting peacefully on my chest while her hair tickled my cheeks, I couldn’t imagine waking up any other way. For the moment, I didn’t allow myself to think about the future or how this would only be temporary. Just as I had in the glen, I pretended.
Some time passed before I forced my arms to loosen, drawing away from her lush curves. She let out a soft sigh in response, tilting her head my direction. I knew determination would fill her eyes soon enough, but now, only wonder danced across the splashes of gold, her irises alight with hope and a kind of quiet affection I’d never known.
My heart swelled. No one had ever looked at me in such a way, and I wanted to bottle it up and steal it forever.
“You ready?” I asked, my pulse thundering beneath my jacket, right below my and Isiah’s pins. We’d gone over the plan five times last night, but I still needed to hear her words.
“As ready as I’ll ever be to face a bunch of half-dead beasts with a thousand teeth,” she said, sitting up and rising to her feet. She brushed dirt from her trousers, avoiding my eyes.
“Kiara,” I growled, not amused by her sarcasm. I closed the distance and grasped her chin between my fingers. “If anything goes wrong, if we can’t save them—”
“Nothing will go wrong,” she cut me off, placing a gloved finger against my lips. She’d put her gloves back on last night, and I didn’t argue; they were her armor. “We’ve gone over this a hundred times, and I trust you.”
I searched her gaze for a lie, an ounce of hesitation. There was none. Just…faith.
A heavy sigh shuddered through me, but before I could overthink things, namely the foreign emotion swirling in my chest, Kiara rose on the tips of her toes and placed a gentle kiss on the twin scars branding the left side of my face. I startled, my heart hammering and fear pulsating through my veins.
If Kiara noticed, she didn’t stop. She continued her slow exploring, lightly moving upward to gift me a final kiss above my brow.
“I’ve grown rather fond of you, commander,” she said against my skin. “So don’t you dare die.” Kiara began to turn, but I grabbed her wrist and flung her around, my lips finding hers as if they were always meant to be there.
Grasping both sides of my face, Kiara met my lips with equal hunger. I tasted all the things she hid from the world, devouring her truths with every inhale. We were different in so many ways, but when we connected,trulyconnected, everything that separated us was just one more thing to find beauty in.
I’d all but forgotten our mission when Kiara finally pulled away, her hands lingering on my cheeks like she loathed letting go.
She shot me a fierce glare that sent fire into my core. I loved this side of her. Watching her morph from the soft girl waking in my arms to the powerful fighter standing before me now certainly didn’t help settle my racing pulse.
“Let’s go save your friends,” I said on a rasp, still enraptured by her.
Kiara brushed my arm as she passed me, adding over her shoulder, “They could be your friends too, Jude. If only you let them.”
I didn’t reply, but I felt invisible stones shift within me, the walls I’d erected long ago growing weak from Kiara’s weapon of hope.
It was only a matter of time before they all crumbled.
…
The masked men—maskedcreatures—were about to change their scouts.
Every three hours, two beasts were sent to walk the perimeter of the camp. We’d waited until the camp fell into a lull and most slept. Just like this time yesterday, they dispatched half the usual guards, seemingly unafraid of an attack at such a quiet hour.
This was our chance.
Cloaked in my stained tunic and trousers, my back pressed against the trunk of a tree, I readied my blade. My fingers twitched on the handle, the serrated dagger raised to my chest, begging to be used. How many lives had I ended with this dagger alone? It had been crafted by the peoples of the Rine Mountains—Alec’s people—the metal they mined supposedly blessed by Maliah, Goddess of Revenge and Redemption herself.
I couldn’t make out Kiara anywhere, but I sensed her nearby. She all but dissolved into the night when she slipped away and to her post. Stealthy, lethal, and gorgeous. The most dangerous of combinations.
Leaves crunched in the distance.
The patrol approached.
My breath caught, and my body tensed, going as still as the Lakes of Candor. The twisted side of me enjoyed this part the most; the seconds before the kill, when anticipation heated my blood and sent a thrill of adrenaline down my spine.
A branch snapped loudly, accompanied by an animalistic grunt. The masked men made no attempt to hide themselves—and why would they? They were the apex predators out here…or, at least, I hoped so. My fingers constricted around the handle.
Any second now…
