She smirked, tearing the seal off her food pouch. “Dare, of course.”
I took a breath, then exhaled through my nose slowly. “Kiss Damon for thirty seconds.”
Sadie choked on air while Damon paused in the middle of opening his food parcel.
“I’m sorry, what now?” he asked, and somehow, he still made it sound polite. My sister, not so much.
She stood up, throwing her arms out, incensed. “What the fuck, Meera? What are we? Thirteen?”
I grinned, showing off a toothy smile. I wiggled where I was seated. I knew what I was doing. Waving my hand around, I said, “You can forfeit if you want to. It’s okay. I won’t tell Cadoc.”
Sadie’s nostrils flared, incensed. “Never.”
“Glad to hear it. Go on and kiss. Thirty seconds.”
Vareck leaned in closely, turning his head slightly so he could barely be heard. “Is this a good idea?”
Sadie tapped her wrist and tutted. “You know, we don’t have a watch, so ...”
“I’m pretty sure Meera knows how to count,” Damon said as he stood up, and Sadie whipped her head around to glare at him. But there it was. A split second of heat between them. A tiny glimmer in his eye. A fire in hers.
“He’s right!” I said, clapping my hands in excitement. “I do. So, kiss!”
Sadie was about to protest again, but she didn’t get her chance. Damon stepped forward, reaching his hand behind her neck and pulling her face to his. Their lips met and Sadie’s sharp inhale echoed in the silence. For a brief moment, it was just shock that it’d happened, but an electric current charged the air quickly, and I wondered if I was the only one who felt the literal change in the energy around us. They went from a stiff kiss to something far more urgent. I noticed the moment her body melted against his, the tension easing. Their mouths opened, and they devoured each other passionately. I almost felt bad about watching. Wind whipped around all of us, fanning the flames of the campfire. Sadie’s nails racked his back, and his hand tightened in her hair as he growled against her lips. She pressed her body into his, trying to get closer as his other hand pressed into her lower back.
“Thirty,” Vareck said, and I elbowed him and mouthed “what are you doing?”
The buzzing sensation in the air fizzled suddenly, and Sadie and Damon stood in front of each other for several seconds, their chests heaving with labored breaths, their hands still tangled in hair or holding the other closely.
And then they weren’t. He dropped his hands away from her, stepping back, looking down to where he had sat earlier. She did the same, blinking rapidly to process what had just happened.
I sat in awe. I had never, not once, seen Sadie kiss a man like that. I fanned myself theatrically. “That was some intense chemistry. You two have a lot to figure out.”
Sadie flushed but shook her head trying to rid herself of what I assume were emotions. She cleared her throat, but her voice still wobbled slightly when she spoke. “Chemistry isn’t the same as feelings.”
Damon smirked, and he whispered, “So you are saying wedohave chemistry?”
My sister scoffed, but she refused to meet his gaze as she ate from the food pouch. “I have chemistry with everyone. You aren’t special.”
Damon pursed his lips, knowing he had the upper hand for once. “Something tells me you're lying.”
Sadie ignored him, then turned to Vareck. She was pissed at me, but she’d also forgive me. “Truth or dare.”
“I don’t want to kiss Damon, so I’ll go with truth,” he said. I snickered, and somewhere in another realm, I knew Corvo would have appreciated that moment of Vareck’s humor.
Sadie swallowed another mouthful of the survival gruel. “Tell us a secret you’ve never told anyone else.”
I stiffened. That was the same truth she gave me when I had finally told her about dreaming of Vareck. My heart raced at the memory, and I wondered what he was going to say.
Vareck tilted his head to the side, pensive. He scratched his chin while he thought, and he shifted as though his spot on the ground was no longer comfortable. Sadie was eating it up. She loved making people squirm, and right now, she would be out for blood after I’d just made her kiss Damon and face some ofher feelings about him. “This is a tough one,” he said softly. “I’ve never said it out loud.”
“Thems the rules, Your Majesty. Or forfeit.”
“Fair enough. No one can repeat this, understand?” He looked at each of us, pointing at us individually as we nodded. Damon leaned forward, completely taken in. Vareck sighed. “I hate peas. Not all peas. Green peas, specifically.”
I snorted, and Damon laughed. Sadie chose to shout as her medium. “What? That’s not a secret!”
Vareck sat up straight. “It is too. Who are you to decide what is a secret and what isn’t?”
