He nods at the guard, and the man retreats, leaving me alone with Jasce and Lillie.
Jasce’s gaze drifts to the little girl clinging to my hand. “Who is this?”
“Lillie.” I smile down at the girl with vivid blue eyes and curly red hair.
Jasce crouches in front of her. “Hello.”
A grin spreads across her mouth, revealing the dimples deep in her cheeks. “Hello, sir.”
“Do you want a treat from the kitchen?”
Her face lights up. “Yes.”
Jasce turns to the open door and calls for the guard. The man returns and bows.
“Take Lillie to the kitchen.”
“But...” I begin, hesitant to let Lillie go.
“I will make sure she returns to you,” he says with enough assurance for me to free Lillie’s hand and allow her to leave with the guard.
When they disappear through the door and it closes behind them, Jasce turns to me. “Are you well?” he asks as he looks me over.
“I’m all right.” It’s impossible to be truly well in a time such as this.
He closes the space between us and frames my face with his hands. “I owe you something.”
Sunlight streaming through the open windows enhances the gold flecks in his eyes as he leans down and touches his mouth to mine, his kiss tender, slow, mesmerizing, inviting me to surrender to him. I rise on my tiptoes and curl my fingers into his hair, drawing him closer, giving into him in a way I did the first time he kissed me.
He deepens the kiss, urging me to take those steps with him—to walk into the unknown, to abandon my control, to dive into the waves with him.
So, I do.
I even spread my hands across the width of his chest, feeling his breathing beneath my fingertips. His power. His strength. The heat of his flame burning through his surcoat.
It’s much hotter than my flame. Unlike silver, crimson magic tends to burn and destroy.
As our lips part, I look up at him and see the glimmer of something unspoken in his eyes. Something that ties our Fates together in a way I don’t understand.
His hand finds the nape of my neck, fingers threading through my hair as he pulls me toward him again. Our mouths meet in an intense collision of desire—a desire that is driving me to my breaking point. I would snap for him, burn for him.
The realization nearly sends me to my knees.
I would burn for this man, this heir to everything I have been taught to fear.
A sob rises deep in my chest as I tear away from him and step back, scrubbing at my burning cheeks, as if it could erase this need from my body.
I cannot want him.
I scrub again, needing this want to go away. He watches me, his eyes a fiery wave of heat that threatens to consume me. There’s no anger there like usual, just passion, just a burning flame that wants to devour me.
I turn away from him, wanting that devouring, needing that devouring. It’s only fair that I get to experience it. Right?
No. No. No!
You cannot experience it, Annora.
My surcoat whips against my legs as I hurry to the window, needing a distraction. But unfortunately, I cannot see past a thick cloud of smoke.
