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“That wasn’t very nice.” Itsked, and she squeezed her thighs against me. The heat in my core grew. Such a devilish deception…though secretly, I wondered if that was all it had been. A lie.
“So easily distracted,” she drawled, bringing her face mere inches from mine. I saw the indecision there, the doubt that had crept into her eyes. The annoying, logical side of me hated that look.
She wastooclose. It was muddling my mind, any cutting remark I could muster dying a swift death on my tongue. And yet, the masochistic part of me wished to see what she was going to do next.
“I didn’t want you here for a reason,” I finally whispered when the weight of the moment grew too much, the air too thick with her scent. The memory of her lips haunted me. “You may think you’re unstoppable, but you have no idea what awaits you out there.”
“Why doyoucare so much? You wouldn’t treat any other recruit like this. Why me?”
She had every right to ask. It’s a question I’d asked myself many times, trying to pinpoint the exact moment things had shifted. Or if they’d always been this way.
“The fight calls to you, Kiara, same as me.” The hand holding the blade dropped, the weapon resting at her side. “Most people just survive for themselves. But not you… You don’t allow anyone to control you.” That’s what I envied about her, what I saw whenever I looked into her eyes. Kiara was a wild creature that couldn’t be tamed, and I’d been on my leash for far too long. My voice came soft as I said, “In you, I recognized something I long ago believed I’d forgotten. In you, I saw who I used to be.”
Free.
“S-so you saw…yourself in me,” she stuttered, a rosy blush creeping up her neck. “I mean—”
“I know what you meant,” I said, enjoying how that blush turned a deeper shade of red. She might be straddling me, but I was the one undoing her. “And I’ve cursed picking you every moment of every day.”
Because certain lines could never be crossed. Especially by someone like me.
Kiara flinched. I could feel the confusion radiating off her, could see the battle raging as her heated stare breached my defenses, leaving me exposed.
“Curse me all you want, Jude. But if I’m your reflection, you can’t escape me.” I was floating and drowning again. A sensation I now associated with her. “And I have a feeling you don’t want to…”
My eyes fell to her lips once more, to where the truth had been released.
I didn’t deny her words, and my silence drew her closer, her head lowering as if she were equally as bewitched as I. So close, just an inch separating us now.
All I desired was to close the gap and lose myself to the flames she ignited, to burn so deliciously until we were remade, like a blade forged in steel.
Powerful. Kissing Kiara Freymade me feel powerful. Untouchable and—
A branch snapped in the distance, and Kiara jerked away from my lips, shoving off from my chest and to her feet. She moved like smoke on a breeze, fluid and light. I’d just risen to my own feet when the glow of a torch bloomed, pale orange flames highlighting the diamond crystals clinging to every leaf.
“There you are, commander.” Isiah’s voice reached my ears seconds before he appeared from the corner of my eye. Kiara and I remained frozen, our eyes locked as the unspoken words hovered between us.
“Isiah. I thought I told you to stay at the camp?”
I had the sudden urge to wring his neck.
“You did, but you were gone for a long time. I came to make sure you were all right.”
“Everything is fine,” I growled, and Isiah chuckled in reply, making my irritation grow. I had no doubt he knew exactly what had transpired, or at least, he had some idea. Twisting to Kiara, I found that blush still heating her cheeks, the sight visible even in the gloom. “I just happened to find a recruit who wouldn’t listen to the word ‘No.’” She huffed at that. “Apparently, she decided all on her own that she was ready to face the Mist.”
“Lovely,” Isiah murmured under his breath. “As if we needed another body to look after.” He peered over his shoulder. “But maybe she can knock the others out of their stupor. Not one of the bastards has spoken since we left the palace. Especially the one with the freckles. He looks pissed.”
At the mention of her friends, Kiara’s dark gaze softened.
“I’ll bring her to camp. We’ll be with you shortly, Isiah.”
“You need a light?” he offered, but I shook my head, and without another word, he swiftly retreated into the woods from where he’d come.
Kiara and I were alone once more, but now, we basked in the same darkness that had cast its spell.
I motioned to where Isiah had vanished. “Well, if you insist on dying, you might as well do it with your friends.” My tone was biting.
“Why is Patrick here?” she asked, crossing her arms.
