Page 55 of A Touch of Stars and Stones (Kirrian #1)

Stars, my legs feel weak and shaky from that alone. I’m glad he can’t read my emotions right now, and I do the only thing I’m capable of, and nod.

He pulls on my hand, and I jolt forward out of my room, as he closes the door behind us and sets off at a punishing rate down the hall. But the grip on my hand doesn’t falter. It squeezes tighter.

“Where are we going?” I ask. “And do we have to rush?” The tonic had helped, but I still could feel the bruises under my skin.

“There’s something I want to show you.”

“Now? Today?” My words come out as little protests because, well, I want to explore other ideas right now, even if it makes me sound desperate. Everything that’s been building in my mind—in Ten’s mind—on top of what we started last night, is ready to crack open something inside of me.

Ten doesn’t stop, continuing to walk us out of the training area, towards the bridge, then over, and still, his hand hasn’t loosened in his grip, nor does he offer any explanation, content to let me simmer in my frustrations.

I’d already said I didn’t want to go into The Court, and my heart drops a little as we grow closer to it. But he skirts the area around the entrance, taking me north.

People are louder than usual, and music drifts out from around the stalls and smaller establishments. Laughter and cheers tumble out in waves, and despite myself, I feel a pull to go and see this side of Kirrasia on the one day it’s no different from Estereah.

Ten slows, as if able to see my attention is drawn, but keeps walking, taking the same path towards the site where the Transference ceremony occurs. That wasn’t a place I wanted to go back to in a hurry.

“Ten,” I start, but he just squeezes my hand a little harder.

“Just a little further.”

He takes a narrow path, partially hidden, skirting towards the Jet Mountains. With the sun now low in the sky and the night clawing forward, the rocks leading up to the peaks look alive with shadows.

“Hey, I did not sign up for a hike today.” I look up and see a path weaving into the foothills.

No, in fact, I’d hoped he’d have stepped foot inside my bedroom so we could finally see what would happen between us with no barriers and no power.

But he stayed on the wrong side of that door, I grumble to myself.

He continues up the incline, and the path gets rockier as we reach the base of the mountains. The greenery and foliage clings to the slopes as if climbing their own path up the sheer sides and jagged lines of the mountains.

“I wanted to show you something.”

“You’ve said that. But you haven’t explained why you’ve waited until today to do it.” I pant in shallow breaths, already weary from the incline.

“Because,” he pauses as he rounds a particularly jagged rock line that juts into the path, “this wouldn’t have meant anything a few days ago.”

He steps aside and lets me see, finally releasing my hand.

And it stops my breath.

It’s the waterfall.

The vision we saw.

Two lines of water cascade down through the greenery, falling from hundreds of feet above, winding their own path, with others joining on the way, spraying the air as they go, dampening everything around us with icy droplets.

It’s beautiful. Mesmerising.

Just like it was in the vision.

Our vision.

The darkness continues to close in around us, cloaking us in our own world, allowing the first stars to light up the sky above us.

“You recognised it in the vision we saw,” I murmur, still taking it all in, listening to the rush of the water as it pours down.

“I did. I knew the moment it flashed in my mind.”

“I… I don’t understand. Is this because you saw it and made it happen?

Or would we have found our way here regardless?

” My head starts to spin, thinking over every single vision, everything I’ve seen when I touched him.

Were they all possibilities? Or had every step of my future already been decided and planned out, just waiting for me to walk into it?

Panic creeps within the darkness, quick to strike and attack the happiness of a second ago.

Does this mean what Ascella saw would come true?

Would I die in the snow with Ten? My hands run through my hair and squeeze my eyes shut, desperation choking me.

It’s like waking up on the floor at home all over again, in the dark, not knowing.

Terror slips between the stuttered breaths I take, growing stronger with every one.

If this is real, then everything will be real.

“Hey, hey, look at me, Ever. Ever!” Ten’s hands grip my shoulders, angling me towards him so I have no choice but to look at him.

His eyes find mine, and I stare into them: chestnut and warm and kind.

He might not have his magic, but his touch seems to ease the panic centring at my chest.

“I wanted this to be special. I wanted to show you something good.” His smile is soft and tentative as his hands find their way from my shoulders, up my neck to cup my jaw.

As his fingers grip me, running over my skin, there’s no pain, and he banishes that lingering darkness.

Goosebumps follow his fingers, and not from the chill.

He rests his forehead against mine. “Hmmm, I’ve wanted to do this from the first time I saw you in the hall, storming towards me with fury in your eyes, but I don’t?—”

I cut him off and rise on my tiptoes, sliding my hand behind his head so he has no choice but to meet my lips as I slam mine into his.

Finally.

His lips are soft and full, and he relaxes after a beat to kiss me back. Just as hard, just as urgently. His mouth opens, and I meet the tip of his tongue, licking against it as his hands move from my face down the column of my neck and around my waist, pulling me against him.

He tastes of salt and citrus, and the smell of trees and cold swirls around us, locking us into our own world.

His moan against my lips is like fire, lighting me up and emboldening me further, scorching my senses and sharpening my desire.

My hands thread through his hair and run down his neck and over his shoulders, and I can finally feel the definition of his muscles and imagine what his skin might feel like as my fingers trace over him.

We kiss with everything. Hands, mouth, tongues, and I melt.

“Ten,” I whisper between breaths. “Are you okay?” I have to ask, not quite believing that we can do this with no consequences.

“Goddess, I don’t know how to answer that.”

“You’re not hurting.”

He chuffs. “Not in the way you’re checking for, Little Siren.” His lips rain kisses over my cheeks, up to my eyes, and finally my forehead. And I can feel the smile in every one.

I pull back, but his arms still cradle me, stopping me from moving out of his reach.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to not kiss you tomorrow. How are we meant to only do this for one day every month?” I ask as a new fear wells up inside of me.

“I think we’ll have some time to work that out. Especially after last night.” The smirk on his lips speaks of mischief that I absolutely want to be involved in.

“You decided to do this in a really inconvenient place.” I look out towards The Court, the view is obstructed from where we stand, but the sky has awoken with stars, reminding me of the night we went out and watched them after dinner in The Tower.

“Oh?” he asks.

“Yes. And don’t pretend. I saw your thoughts last night. I know what’s in that mind of yours.”

He leans against my forehead again, and I close my eyes.

“We could have stayed in your room or mine and done everything we wanted to after last night. But, call me mad, I didn’t want this to be just about sex.

It’s more than that for me. And well, there’s no way I was just going to fuck you knowing that I’ll be your first.”

I stare up at him, a little confused, and disappointment sours my mood.

“What if that’s what I want?” My confession is timid in contrast to how he makes me feel.

He closes his eyes and takes a long breath through his nose.

“Then I will ensure that we don’t leave the bedroom on the next new moon. And I’ll enjoy planning all the ways I’ll make you scream my name in your mind over the coming month.”

“You have a dirty mouth, Aten Ciro.”

“Only for you, Ever Hart.”

“Well, I would love to believe that.” I pull away but keep hold of his fingers, gripping them with the tips, as if I can’t quite let him go.

“It’s the truth. I wouldn’t lie.”

“You promise?” Suddenly, I need to know that this, right here, right now, is something only between us. The first for us.

“I do. But there is something I need to tell you first.” He pulls me over towards a grassy area off to the side, the waterfalls providing the soundtrack to my stammering heart. Nerves now beating in time with the rhythm of my heart, picking up on the tone in Ten’s voice.

He sits down and pulls me down with him, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me back against him.

“The day in class, after Azur. I went to see my father.”

“I know.”

“But I didn’t tell you everything we said. Everything I deduced.”

I don’t respond. There’s no reason to think it’s going to be bad except for the drop in my stomach. So, I wait for whatever he wants to tell me.

“He knew you were a Fifth the day you arrived here, when you first met the Orders. They all did.”

My mind runs back to the memory of that day in the hall. His Dad, the clipped words, most of which were just confusing at the time. And then seeing Ten.

“He asked me to find out about you and what you know. He doesn’t trust you and thinks you’re a danger.”

“I am.” It was the truth.

“No. Not physically. It’s more than that, but I don’t have all the information. Not yet anyway. There are pieces missing…”

He seems to be working something through in his head, but I don’t want him to spare me the details. If he’s kept this from me for days, he’s had time to work it out, and now I want the rest of the information. “Ten!”

“I think he knows who your parents are.”