Page 38 of Fallen Gods

Not tentative, not testing. Just there, like he’s always known he’d end up exactly in this spot.

A breath catches in my throat. My hands hover, useless, unsureif I should shove him away or pull him closer.

He moves higher, slow and infuriatingly confident, dragging his mouth up to my jawline.

And when he bites—just enough pressure to make me gasp—I hate how much I want him to do it again.

He murmurs against my cheek, “I told you, I never back away from a challenge. You smell good, by the way. Too bad…”

Something cold and wet smears across my cheek. Is that…mud?

He releases me and shakes the excess from his fingers, his smirk dark and satisfied.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, voice rich with amusement. “It slipped.”

I wipe the mud from my face and flick it back at him, a genuine grin on my lips. “No apology needed. I like a good mud mask.”

“Oh, I wasn’t being helpful; it just pains me to see your face.”

I wrap my body around him and shove him down into the water. He goes easily, and when he pops back up, his expression is all amusement. He may be asleep, but he’s not dead inside after all. He can feel.

Better yet?

Hewantsto.

“Oops.” I shrug. “I slipped.”

He pushes me up against the wall of the spring again and grins. “You’re a real handful. Too bad you won’t last long. You might have been entertaining.”

I shrug again. “Who knows what the future holds.”

Aric presses his hands on either side of my head against the spring wall, caging me in, then lightly shoves back. The distance quickly grows between us. “Who knows indeed.”

Chapter Seventeen

Aric

I grab my clothes from where I left them on the bench and head back up the trail, stopping partway to put on my pants so I’m not walking half naked back to the dorms. My whole body is buzzing from that interaction with Rey. I shouldn’t have let her get under my skin, but damn if there isn’t something about her…

I use my shirt to wipe down my body as I walk until I find myself right next to the archway again.

“Stupid legends,” I say, shoving my arms into the damp shirt, and walk right underneath the arch. Immediately, a chill runs down my spine. I shake it off and keep walking, but something feels funny beneath my feet. Frowning, I look down and lift up my foot. Perfect icy footprints press into the grass.

Mine.

I slowly swallow and look over my shoulder, then notice a path from the archway to the actual trail. Within seconds, the footprints are gone. Shit. Maybe they really do need to increase the dosage of my meds this time. It’s been years since they’ve adjusted them.

I don’t blame Reeve for being worried that I might be losing control. I haven’t been the same since I heard she was coming to campus.

I almost kissed Rey back there in the hot spring. It was like something came over me, something familiar. Even though I could see the steam coming up off the heated water, all I felt was cold inside. Freezing, yet burning as well. Burning for Rey.

I keep stomping toward the dorms and try to ignore the way my heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest when I think of Rey’s mouth, the way she felt in my arms.

Everything about her is wrong.

She’s from a line of murderers, and nothing can change that. I need to seriously refocus and not overthink why my body is betraying me by responding to her the way it does. It’s not rocket science why, though I’d die before admitting that to her.

She’s so beautiful that it’s hard to look away.