Page 39 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Royo

The Northern Pass, Khitan

Aeri’s mouth is on mine. I inhale her. She tastes like a treat from a sugar house and feels like the softest silk. Her flower smell blooms all around me, and I can’t get enough.

The sky glows with ribbons of color as I pull her onto my lap. She straddles my hips, light like a feather. We’re both in winter gear, and I wish we weren’t. I want her in one of those short dresses with just a strip of fabric separating us.

Heat flushes through me, and I sweat, holding her tight. She hums with pleasure as she kisses me just as hard as I kiss her. I want to break her, devour her, and be lost in her all at the same time.

I’ve never desired someone like this. It’s a need, not a want.

I run my hands under her shirt. Her skin is as soft as the fur she’s wearing. She makes little gasps and moans when my thumbs graze her nipples. I reach up to her collarbone and then trace my fingers down. But my hand catches on something—a necklace, I think.

Aeri breaks our kiss, recoiling for a second.

But that’s enough.

Ten Hells, what the fuck am I doing?

I catch my breath as we stare at each other. “I’m sorry—”

“No, I’m sorry,” she says. “I— It’s just—” She looks to the side.

She doesn’t want this. A boulder lodges in my throat. It feels like I’m plummeting, falling from the top of a mountain as my stomach turns and my head spins.

“It’s fine,” I say quickly.

“It’s not that…” she begins, shaking her head.

We keep talking at the same time, and it’s real annoying. I move her to the side and stand. Her gaze flickers to my pants, to the bulge she was just pressed against. I clear my throat and then get busy with picking up the bowls. I need to get away from here.

“It’s fine. We got carried away,” I say. “It’s fine.”

“Royo…”

“I’m gonna bury the rest of this so animals don’t come for it,” I say.

I avoid looking at her as I take the empty pot and bowls and stomp off toward the roadway.

Embarrassment and the sting of rejection make me move quickly. It don’t matter, though. We just got lost in it. She’d looked so beautiful, and this place is so incredible, I forgot. I forgot I’m better off alone. I forgot that I can only ruin any woman who gets close to me.

I’d say sorry for taking things too far, but she’d seemed like she wanted me. No. I must’ve read it wrong. She pulled back. In the end, she didn’t want me.

Or maybe it’s all just a game to her.

The thought is a bolt. A stab to the gut, made worse because I should’ve seen it coming.

Why would a princess like Aeri ever want a street thug like me?

I squat down by the pass and dig a hole in the snow. I take my time scraping every grain of the rice out of the bowls. Then I bury it all, along with my feelings. I use the snow to rinse everything clean.

By the time I’m done, my head is clear again. She was right to pull away. This is the last distraction we need. We’re on the brink of war, still trying to kill a god king, and we have to get an egg from a deadly talking parrot or something.

Sex should be the last thing on my mind.

It’s not.

I run my hand down my face and groan. I’d let it all go as a mistake, but when we were kissing, I’d listened for every little sigh, paid attention to every gasp. She was enjoying it. She wanted me right up until I hit her necklace.

It’s gotta be the one I saw when we were on the riverboat. Simple with a yellow gem. Maybe it’s a memento of something…or someone.

My heart thunders at the thought. For all I know, she has someone waiting on her in Pyong. I never asked.

I take a deep breath. Yeah, that idea doesn’t make it better. Not even a little.

Now I have to sleep in a tiny tent next to her and keep her warm for the next three nights. And hopefully there’s a return trip.

I should’ve gone with Mikail to steal that rotting corpse.