His tongue coaxed hers in delicious, gentle strokes, sending tiny shivers across her skin. He tasted of parchment, but it wasn’t an unpleasant thing. For her, it was perhaps the most familiar. All those years she spent devouring book after book, and now she was devouring him.
The pounding in her chest moved lower. Kestrel shoved herself the rest of the way off the wall and pressed into him harder, desperate to feel the heat of his body against hers. To deepen the kiss. To fill herself with him in mind, body, and soul.
“Leighton!” a man shouted from the other end of the alleyway.
Kestrel had been determined to ignore them—she wasn’t about to let anything come between her and this perfect, long-awaited moment.
If it hadn’t been for the way Gallant Hero’s mouth clamped shut, forcing her tongue out, the name might’ve been lost toher, swept up by the cacophony of voices bustling about the marketplace.
But because his body had turned as rigid as stone, the name struck her.
Leighton.
So elegant. So enchanting. So?—
Gallant Hero—orLeighton, she supposed—thrust himself away from her. He staggered to his feet, and when she saw the look of horror on his face, it made her feel as if she had just been sucker-punched in the gut.
Kestrel had been left on the ground, gaping and wounded.
Something had changed between them, but she didn’t yet know what, couldn’t possibly comprehend how the magic had been entirely snuffed out in an instant. But as the man jogged up to them, she could tell by Leighton’s paling skin that now wasn’t the time to ask.
So Kestrel stilled. She tried becoming invisible and blending in with the clay walls behind her as the man reached Leighton’s shoulder. This one had coppery, shoulder-length hair, and though Kestrel was still dumbfounded and blinking, trying and failing to make sense out of what was unfolding around her, it was through that haze that she noticed how notably similar they looked. The two of them could’ve been brothers, although this new one was a duller version, at least to her. They had the same strong jawline though, the same disarming smile. But herGallant Herowas a little more hardened around the edges, and his striking sky-blue gaze was unmatched by this new man’s steely blue one.
“Leighton, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you,” the man with coppery hair said. He folded over and braced his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. “Efrem will go mad when he sees your face isn’t covered?—”
He stopped mid-sentence when he caught sight of Kestrelon the ground just a few paces away. She pressed her back harder into the wall, as if that would help conceal her now.
“Oh,” said the man, his eyes widening with some perceived, mischievous understanding. “Oh!” Spinning around, he thwacked Leighton on the chest. “You ran off to rendezvous with girls in alleyways and you didn’t think to invite me?”
“Ow,” Leighton grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on his chest. “Don’t be crass, Micah. I wasn’t?—”
Another man appeared from the end of the alleyway, this one identical to the one apparently called Micah, although this one was followed by a black cloud that shadowed his disposition. He saw Kestrel immediately.
“What’s this then?” Black Cloud asked, folding his arms.
Micah shouted over his shoulder. “Leighton’s kissing locals and didn’t have the decency of inviting us.” He folded his arms as well, although with less judgement and more amusement.
“Nothing happened!” Leighton insisted, glancing between the two of them.
Sharpness pierced Kestrel’s chest, but none of the boys seemed to notice.
“Oh right. Sure,” Micah said, dragging his gaze up and down the length of Kestrel where she sat. “And nothing happens between me and any of the ladies I rendezvous with on these outings either. Isn’t that right, Efrem?”
Efrem just rolled his eyes. “We need to get going. And cover your faces—we’re supposed to be laying low while we’re here.”
“Ah, let him have his fun. He can’t smooch lovely girls with his face covered now, can he?”
Efrem just grumbled and turned his attention back out toward the marketplace. It was as if he was standing guard for some reason, but Kestrel didn’t know why. Not that she was even certain that’s what he was doing, for she was toodistracted by the lie that had just spilled off Leighton’s tongue so effortlessly.
Nothing happened.
But kissingwasexactly what they had been doing. And it had been a beautiful, heartfelt moment that had meant so much to her, had felt like a once-lost and now-found treasure that she would hold dear to her heart for the rest of her life, and he was denying it. Destroying it.
He made it seem like even the idea that he could’ve been kissing her was unfathomable.
What Kestrel couldn’t figure out was why? Why was he hiding the truth? Clearly Micah didn’t care; he seemed more than excited about the prospect of romantic entanglements, whether he was involved in them or not. And Efrem seemed more irritated by having to deal with the two of them than he was by the prospect of Leighton being involved in the kiss itself.
The only reason Kestrel could think of was that Leighton was ashamed, and that thought made her belly feel like it was a decaying nest of weeds.
