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“That’s not the way friendship works,” she said, turning back to him. “Alex didn’tfindme. He doesn’t own me.”

Gideon’s gaze dropped to her mouth. “I’m not talking about friendship, Rune.”

A shiver rushed across her skin.

Lifting his thumb to her bottom lip, he dragged it slowly across. His touch was like a switch, turning on an electric current that flickered through her.

“What about you?” he asked.

His eyes were bottomless pools. If she stared long enough, she might fall into them and never climb out.

“What about me?”

“You thought me the rudest boy you’d ever met.” His voice was low. Rough. “Is that all you thought?”

Rune swallowed. No. No, it was not all.

She remembered watching Gideon jump from the cliffs that day. The way his body arced through the air like a shimmering fish. No crowing bravado, only the quiet self-assurance that came with competence.

“You were …impressive.”

“Impressive,” he murmured, the corner of his mouth approaching a smile. “Anything else?”

Rune bit down on her lip, not wanting to admit the rest. She remembered that same boy encouraging the younger kids who weren’t brave enough to jump alone, climbing down from his heights to jump with them.

“Everyone admired you,” she confessed. “It was impossible not to. But you weren’t cocky about it, even though you could have been.”

He drew back, as if her answer surprised him.

Is this still the game?she wondered.Or is this real?

That she couldn’t tell unsettled her.

In the silence, Rune became intensely aware of him: the shadow of stubble on his jaw, the smell of the sea on his skin. He’d pulled his shirt on as they walked, and she stared at the buttons now.

“Do you still think I’m foppish?” she whispered.

Of all the questions she could have asked him …why hadthatone come out of her mouth?

His mouth quirked. “Yes.” He reached for her ribs, cupping them with strong hands. “Do you still think I’m a brute?”

“Def—”

His mouth brushed the corner of her jaw, sending a rush of sensation across her skin and making her breath hitch. It wasn’t a kiss, exactly. More of a caress. He moved lower, pressing his lips to a more sensitive place on her neck.

Rune’s pulse skipped. She closed her eyes.

Gideon moved lower still, to the base of her throat. Kissing now. Tasting her. When his teeth grazed her collarbone, Rune inhaled sharply, fisting her hands. The soft insistence of his mouth was a dangerous undercurrent, threatening to drag her downward.

His kisses continued, increasing in urgency, trailing over her skin. Was this real, or were they still pretending? She pushed her hands into his hair, cradling his head, silently telling him not to stop.

Should she invite him in?

Invite himup?

If she could get away for a few minutes, she could castTruth Teller, and this time she would draw the spellmark on something useful.

Rune tried to keep her wits intact as his hands slid into her hair. As he pressed her against the door. She felt magnetized. Unable to resist the pull of him.