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Jeremiah’s eyes were glowing. He stared at Remi, their gazes locked, and Remi smirked down at him.
“Ha. I wo—”
Before he could finish his words, Jeremiah took him by the ankle, and the next thing Remi knew, he was on the ground with Jeremiah’s weight pinning him.
“Your second mistake—you got cocky and assumed you’d disarmed me.”
“You should have told me Hellhounds were immune to Siren Voice,” Remi snarled.
Jeremiah grinned down at him. “We’re not. You just lacked focus.”
Remi didn’t think that was true. He’d never felt so in tune with his Siren side before. It should have dropped Jeremiah entirely—should have put him under a thrall that would have been impossible to break. At least, that’s what would have happened if Remi wasn’t half human.
It was the only explanation.
Frustration and shame coursed through him, and he closed his eyes, feeling Jeremiah’s weight and the heat of his hellfire that burned beneath his skin. It should have terrified him, but it was comforting in ways he didn’t want to admit.
“I have no right to rule,” Remi eventually said. His words were hoarse, choked with his self-loathing, and he only opened his eyes when he felt Jeremiah’s grip tighten.
“Why do you think that? Because you can’t take down a trained guard? You do know your parents hired me because I’m the best in this business, don’t you?”
Remi shoved Jeremiah, and he knew it wasn’t his own strength that moved him. Jeremiah rolled away, and Remi stood, brushing invisible dust from his pants. “It’s not about you. Not everything’s about you.”
Jeremiah laughed. “You don’t have to sell me on that, princeling. It’s never been about me. But it’s my business when you ask me to train you and it turns into a self-pity party.”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Remi shouted, throwing his hands up before dragging fingers through his mussed hair. “I’m… Everyone is right about me. How the hell am I supposed to rule this entire kingdom when I’m so…”
“What?” Jeremiah pressed. He stalked closer, and Remi found himself taking steps back until he hit the wall. “Clever? Calculating? Charming?”
Remi rolled his eyes, in no mood to be mocked by a man he shouldn’t want so goddamn much. It only made the pain of it all worse. “Human.”
Jeremiah stopped. “Is that such a bad thing?”
“Humans aren’t meant for this,” Remi said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Do you think that about your father?”
Guilt hit Remi even harder, and he winced. “That’s different. He’s different. He’s strong and humble and brave all at the same time. I’m exactly what you said I am.”
“And what is that?”
“A spoiled, weak brat,” Remi fired back, lifting his chin.
Something flared in Jeremiah’s eyes, and then his hand slammed against the wall beside Remi’s head. Before he could react, Jeremiah had him by the jaw, his grip iron-tight and unforgiving. Their lips were barely a breath apart. “I have never,” he said, a rumbling growl coming from his chest, “called you weak.”
Remi opened his mouth, but before he could fight back, warm lips were on his own. Jeremiah fit against him perfectly, like they were born as separate halves of a whole. Remi’s entire body lit up when the Hellhound dragged a rough, warm tongue over his lips, and Jeremiah swallowed down Remi’s soul-deep groan as sparks shot across his skin.
His eyes were closed, but as Jeremiah deepened the kiss, Remi swore he was glowing with the light of his hellfire. His hips moved, seeking friction, but before they found it, Jeremiah ripped himself away, and it was like ice being poured over Remi’s entire body.
“I—”
“We can’t,” Jeremiah gasped. He looked like he was in agony, several feet away, one hand in his hair, the other clenched at his side. Remi caught a faint whiff of something sharp and metallic, and he saw blood dripping from Jeremiah’s fingers. His claws were out. “This is… I can’t. I can’t do this.”
Remi stood there, immobile and confused, as Jeremiah spun on his heel and left. He didn’t move for what felt like a short eternity, and it was only when another guard showed up, silently slipping into the room and waiting patiently, that he realized Jeremiah wasn’t coming back.
He hadn’t done anything. Jeremiah had kissed him, but he couldn’t stop the painful feeling deep in his chest that somehow, that single moment had ruined everything.
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