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Kaelis presses his palm firmly against my mouth. I give him the dullest Are we really still doing this? look that I can manage. He slowly pries his hand away, but rather than saying anything, he grabs me by the arm and takes us farther into the abandoned depths.

I can vaguely recognize the rooms on the path to his apartments now. But Kaelis loses his patience long before we get there.

He releases me, spins, glares, looks away, paces, spins, and then crosses the distance again in a blink.

It’s as if he can’t be far enough from me, and yet at the same time anything more than a breath away is too much.

His restlessness transfers to me, and I fight to keep my heart from quickening so I don’t lose my better senses.

“What were you thinking?” he snarls.

“I was saving your father? Seeing the cards? Having the whole plan go off without a hitch?” I know what he’s asking about, but I don’t want all of the day’s successes to be overshadowed by one bold, slightly out-of-line choice.

“Giving the coin to another initiate.” Kaelis runs a hand through his hair. “A Cups coin at that.”

“I’m so sorry I went against the precious decorum of your academy.” I throw up my hands. “Without Luren, our plan wouldn’t have gone off nearly as well. She’s too good to be Marked and sent to a mill to die. This academy needs her— I need her.”

“ And I need you! ” The words rip themselves from his throat, loud enough that they echo both through the empty halls and within my mind.

My control snaps, heart races. “I…” Kaelis brings a hand to his mouth as he stumbles back, biting at his nail.

With a shake of his head, he looks deep into the shadows that cling to the halls, as if he’s about to run into their welcoming embrace.

“Cups has more spaces than Swords. It would’ve been safer for you to have options. ”

“You’re not mad because I broke tradition.

You’re mad because…you’re worried about me not making it into a house?

” I tilt my head. Kaelis looks away, and it’s all the answer I need.

Suddenly, I’m hot and cold all over. I don’t want to be here, and yet, I don’t want to be anywhere else.

Panic rises in me, making my next words as hastily spoken as they are chosen.

“Right, of course. You need me at the Feast of Cups to steal from your father. If I don’t get into a house, I won’t be there. ”

The look he gives me is akin to that of a wounded animal. It says pages upon pages. Yet what comes out of his mouth seems like only a fraction of what he’s thinking. “If that were merely the sum of it…”

There’s so much not being said out loud, and I want to ignore all ofit.

“Well, don’t worry, I’ll earn one of the two spots in Swords,” I say hastily. Emilia proved it was possible with her words and actions today.

“That’s one of the most difficult houses to get into.”

“Doubting me is unappealing,” I say.

“I’m being realistic.”

“Then be realistic about the fact that you don’t really need me once I give you those forgeries, and I can do that well before the Feast of Cups, even the Three of Swords Trials.”

“Who else will steal from my father, if not you?” he snaps.

“You’re clever, I’m sure you’d figure it out.”

A growl resonates from the depths of his chest. “Must you always be this frustrating?”

“Yes.” I can’t stop myself. “And you know what, Kaelis, I think you like it.”

“Like it?” he repeats incredulously. “ Like it? Why would someone like me like anything about someone like you?”

“You tell me.” I shrug, knowing I’m getting under his skin. I’m trying to play it cool, but all the while my heart is beating so fast I’m getting dizzy. “You’re the one keeping me around. The one looking after and worrying for me much more than you need to.”

“You are insufferable. You are too talented for your own good. You are so—fuck— so arrogant at times and more stubborn than I have ever imagined a person capable of being. You are angry, fiery, passionate, often impulsive, and more determined than any creature I have ever met. And what’s worse is that—for as annoying as you are—you’re so gorgeous any sane man wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off you.

” Kaelis approaches, but this time, every footstep has purpose.

I hold firm and stand tall to meet him. I don’t move.

“You delight in being a criminal. Your whole existence is the antithesis to all I am. You would have killed me and my entire family several times over if you had the chance.”

“You would’ve done the same to me and those I love,” I counter.

Kaelis halts at that. The shadows on his face seem only to deepen. We’re illuminated by nothing more than the fading sunset blazing through the dust-coated windows. “Must you always strive to get the last word?”

“Only if I’m right.”

“You’re problematic, disruptive, unsuitable, bothersome, ill-timed—”

“Ill-timed for what, exactly?” I counter with a shallow breath. He’s so close now that if I were to take a deeper one my chest would brush against his. He’d be able not just to hear but to feel the frantic beating of my heart, what he’s doing to my body without even touching it.

“For me. You are somehow better and worse than I could’ve ever imagined—everything I needed and the last fucking thing I wanted.” Kaelis’s hand rises, as if he’s about to touch me. He touched my face at the soiree. But this… this is different, and we both know it.

So I cross the gap. I rest my hands on the sides of his waist, gathering fistfuls of his jacket. I pull him to me, our bodies flush against each other.

“To be honest, Kaelis, the only thing I ever thought I’d want from you is your heart, carved from your chest.”

“Say the word.” His head tilts slightly, long bangs teasing across my forehead.

Our lips hover so achingly close. Every rational thought is gone as the warmth of his breath mingles with mine.

I can still taste the chill of the autumn air on his lips.

I can still taste him from the last time his tongue was in my mouth.

“And what word is that?” My voice is barely audible, almost lost to the storm that brews in the voids of his eyes.

Kaelis’s hands finally find me. One skims along my waist. The other delicately trails the edge of my jaw. Each point of contact is like a tiny star landing on my skin. Bursts of light in the darkness.

“Surrender, or conquest?” The words are a velvety murmur.

“Aren’t they the same thing?” The question hangs heavy in the air, as heavy as our lids. As our bodies sink into each other, the room around us blurs into inconsequence. Fading until it’s gone.

“We can’t.” His breath escapes with a ragged sigh, as if his entire body is ready to snap.

It quivers with the effort of holding himself back.

Of not acting on whatever it is that “we can’t” do.

I know, deep in my core, what he’s referring to.

But his self-control refuses to release its hold on that bowstring.

“They’ll wonder where we are at the All Coins Day Feast.”

“Let them wonder.” I’m not ready to give up, or give in. Not when this ache is so deep and raw and could finally be satiated.

“We’re both being stupid. Neither of us really wants this.” Yet even as he says so, neither of us moves. Every word is hot across my lips, the gap so achingly small. “We’re simply…overcome with carnal desires.”

“So?” I say plainly.

He tilts his head back to get a better look at me.

“ Obviously. ” I draw out the word this time for emphasis, holding him tighter. “You think I’m not aware of how this is a terrible idea for us both? How this will impact our ability to work together? How much we mutually, generally, hate each other?”

“?‘Hate’ might be a strong word,” he murmurs.

“This doesn’t have to be anything, mean anything.

” I run my hands down his chest. He’s as sturdy as a wall.

Breathing shallow. Four suits, I want to break him.

“Let’s be honest, I was in Halazar for nearly a year.

Despite what you say, I’m pretty sure you’re the least desirable bachelor in all of Oricalis.

” His eye twitches slightly at that. I smirk.

“We both need a good fuck, Kaelis. This doesn’t have to be hard. ”

He groans softly, both hands back on my hips, gliding over the curve of my ass. Hooking on the top of my pants. As he yanks me close to him, I can feel just how hard this situation has become for him. It excites me further.

“They will suspect us if we’re late to the feast,” he repeats.

“They’ve already called me your ‘whore.’ I might as well give them a reason.” I smirk. “Besides, wouldn’t it give more credence to us being so in love?”

He moans. “We really shouldn’t—can’t.” I open my mouth to object but don’t get a word in. “?‘They’ are my father and brother.”

My eyes widen slightly. I release him, and the chill air of the academy crashes against me with the force of a bucket of ice. The mere mention of the king has my senses returning.

“They’re here? In the academy?” I ask.

“Much to my dismay.”

“Why?”

Kaelis steps away, tugging at his clothes. He seems to have reclaimed his wits as well. “I don’t know why. My father has demanded we dine with them for the All Coins Day Feast. But knowing Ravin and my father, their reasoning certainly won’t be good. So be prepared for anything.”