Page 92 of Lucifer's Mirror

He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Same time tomorrow,” he says, then turns and walks away.

What the fuck?

I don’t know how long I lie staring up at the sky.

Eventually, I hear footsteps. Is he back?

But when I turn my head, it’s Zayne approaching. He comes to a halt beside me, a disapproving expression on his face.

Chapter 43

Chickening Out

Crap.Busted.Again.

“Hi,” I say. “I was just… having a little rest.”

He snorts. “I saw the two of you.”

“Oh.”

Well, this is awkward.

I brush my hands down my pants as I cast Zayne a sideways glance. Actually, he doesn’t look so much disapproving as sad. And resigned.

I give him a rueful shrug. It wasn’t as though I’d planned to kiss Khaosti.

God, I kissedKhaosti.

Or rather, Khaosti kissed me.

And it was out of this world. Mind-blowing. Nothing like I thought a kiss could be. My body is still singing. Tingling. Glowing. All from a kiss.

I might spontaneously combust if we actually went any further. I blow out my breath.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Zayne says, pulling me from my contemplation of going further—like all the way—with Khaosti.

I hug myself. “Not a clue,” I admit.

A brief smile kicks up the corner of his lips at my honesty, but then his face falls into serious lines. “I wasn’t just trying to be a bad loser when I warned you against trusting him, Amber.”

“You’re not any sort of loser,” I say fiercely. I move closer and rest my hand on his arm. “You’re my brother, Zayne. I’ll always love you.”

“Yeah, right. It’s my own fault. I didn’t want to push you—you seemed so broken at first, and I couldn’t take advantage of that. And I left it too late.” He shakes his head. “But I thought I had time. And really—it wasn’t as though I could have foreseen all of this.” He waves his hand to encompass this new world we’ve found ourselves in.

“Don’t hate me,” I say.

Shock flares across his face. “I could never hate you. But I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“And you think Khaosti will hurt me?” It’s a stupid question. Of course he’s going to hurt me. If I let him… Except I think it’s too late for that. I think we’ve set something in motion that can’t be stopped.

Zayne shrugs. “Maybe not. Who knows? Maybe the two of you can get married and then you’ll really be a princess.”

“Ha ha.”

“Just don’t presume he wants what you want. There’s far more going on here than we understand. Be wary.”

“I will.”