Page 34

34

SERA

T he fortress is quiet.

Too quiet.

I shouldn’t be out here.

The corridors are empty, save for the flickering sconces lining the stone walls. Each step echoes, too loud, but I keep moving.

Veylan has avoided me since the fight. Since the moment he let me strike him and didn’t retaliate.

I loathe that I feel the absence of his gaze.

It shouldn’t matter.

I exhale slowly, pressing my back against the cold stone, eyes closing for just a second.

My chest is tight. My thoughts are a mess.

And without meaning to—I hum.

The melody is soft. A whisper. A breath. But it is a call.

It winds through the corridors like something alive, seeping into the cracks of the fortress, threading through the dark like silk.

I don’t realize what I’ve done until the air changes.

Like something stirs.

Like something hears.

He comes fast.

Too fast.

I can’t react fast enough before he is there.

Veylan moves like a storm, like something unleashed, his eyes darker than night, his body tense.

He stops before me.

Silent. Staring. Breathing too hard.

I press back into the stone, my heart a hammer against my rib cage. "I?—"

He moves.

His fingers graze my throat. A touch so light, so unbearably soft, that it steals the words from my lips.

I shiver.

Not from fear.

From something worse.

His thumb drags up, tracing the curve of my jaw.

I should push him away.

I should move. Should fight.

But I don’t.

His gaze flicks to my lips. His breath is warm, slow, measured.

"What are you doing?" I whisper.

He doesn’t answer.

Instead, his fingers tighten.

He kisses me.

It is not gentle.

Not slow.

It is punishment.

It is possession.

A war without words. His mouth claims, takes, devours.

I bite back. Its gasp. A growl. A clash of lips, of breath, of something more violent than desire.

His hands find my waist, gripping too tight, too rough, too perfect.

I dig my nails into his shoulders, dragging him closer, tilting my chin up to meet the force of his need.

And for a moment, there is nothing else.

No past. No future. Just this.

Just us.

Heat coils low in my stomach. My pulse pounds.

His fingers slide into my hair, tilting my head back, deepening the kiss.

My knees buckle.

He holds me up, and he stops.

Just like that.

Gone.

He rips away from me like he’s been burned, his breath ragged, his hands still clenched into my clothes like he doesn’t want to let go.

But he does.

Slowly. Painfully.

His expression is unreadable, his silver eyes wild, flickering with something dangerous.

Something he doesn’t understand.

Something he hates.

"Veylan—"

He turns. Leaves.

He’s gone.

My lips still tingle. My breath is still uneven.

I press my fingers to my mouth.

The monster kissed me.

And I kissed him back. All over again.

I’m falling for this fire that keeps burning between us again and again.

What is happening to us?