Page 78

“Maybe it’s you,” I whispered back as my eyes caught on how the mists seemed to curl off his skin. “Have you ever stopped to think it’s your fault?”

“Is it my fault you called to me from your dream?” he asked, his lips tilting upward at my surprise. I called to him? That couldn’t be true. Could it?

A flush crept up my neck. “Oh,please. Don’t even try to pretend that’s what happened. You said it yourself. Your power is acting strangely here.Yourpower. This has nothing to do with me.”

He let out a chuckle and tucked a finger beneath my chin. The heat of his touch stormed through me, curling my toes. The feeling only made me hate him more. “You’re right about part of that. My power is acting strangely here, and it’s out of my control. But you also called for me. You’ve done it before, back when you were in Teine. You just didn’t realize it. How do you think I always knew when you had mined some gemstones? Why do you think I chose you in the first place? It’s because you called out for me, whether you realized it or not. Your soul was pleading for someone todo something. And so I did.”

My mouth dropped open, and I tried to take a step back, but my feet were rooted in the stone. Dropping my voice to a harsh whisper, I said, “You’re lying.”

“I am not lying, Tessa.”

The heat in my neck raced up to my cheeks, burning me up from the inside. “If that’s true, you should have told me.”

“And where would be the fun in that?”

He gave me a little smirk and then removed his finger from where he’d pressed it against my chin. But he didn’t move. Irritation flaring in my gut, I put my hands against his chest andshoved. I hated the idea that I’d been calling out to him in my sleep. He would take it the wrong way. He’d decide that it meant something it definitely did not.

Kalen would believe I actuallywantedto be near him. That I wanted his help.

That was so far from the truth, it was laughable.

Like an enormous boulder, he didn’t budge an inch. Growling, he wound his fingers around my wrists and trapped them there, right where I could feel the thunderous beat of his heart. Not a steady thump. It was racing.

My mouth went dry as his gaze tripped down to my lips. A spark lit in his eyes that matched the flames burning up my heart, chasing away the ever-present cold of the Kingdom of Shadow. He ran his rough palm over the side of my neck, then tangled his fingers in my wild hair.

“I told you to braid that mess,” he said in a low murmur. “When it’s like this, it’ll just get in the way when you fight.”

“Fight you?” I whispered with an arch of my brow.

He wrapped a hand around my waist, and my heart nearly shook out of my chest. Not in fear, but in something else that scared me far more than he ever had. A want curled through me. Aneed. Heart racing, I gazed at his strong, angular face. Those eyes, so full of darkness and passion, icy blue here in the dream.

Suddenly, he pulled me closer. His mouth found mine, and a shudder went through me. Heat engulfed every part of me as his lips whispered against me, and he gripped my waist tighter.

I grabbed his leather armor, held on for dear life, and found myself kissing him back. His lips were agonizingly soft. His powerful body brimmed with a passionate need that made my bones turn liquid.

For a moment, all that mattered was this and him and all that remained unsaid between us.

And then something jolted me awake.

Thirty-Two

Tessa

My heart was racing so fast that I could barely think straight. As I jolted up from sleep, I blinked at the sudden darkness of the castle. Cold prickled the hair on my arms and I tried to calm myself down. I pressed a hand to my lips. They were hot and swollen. Almost as though I’d been kissing someone.

Kissing Kalen.

The Mist King.

A shudder went through me at the memory. It had felt so real, even though it had only happened in a dream. So real I still felt hot. The sensation of his lips on mine burned my skin. Rubbing my lips, I flung off his cloak and paced the length of the room.

There was no need to panic or jump to conclusions. It had been a dream kiss and nothing more. He hadn’t really meant it. We were both angry and worried and trapped. There were so many emotions storming through us, it was only natural that we expressed ourselves. Even if it was in a very unexpected way.

He hadn’t meant it. And neither had I. All it—

“Tessa Baran,” a soft, female voice whispered, drifting toward me from the cracked bedroom door. I stiffened and whirled in my socked feet toward the sound. Tension tightened the knots in my shoulders. I held myself steady and cocked my head.

That had been a woman’s voice. Not deep and melodic, the way Kalen sounded, his voice rumbling in his chest like the thunder of the storm that still raged outside.