Page 70 of In The Dark

Did we just steal the map of the castle?

With wide eyes, I pivot into him as we step from the Veil, but he hasn’t moved. His arm remains tightly wrapped around my chest, and I’m suddenly—painfully—too aware of him against my back. For a moment, everything is silent except for the pulse climbing to my temples, blood rushing in my ears from the adrenaline. But also something else I’m too afraid to name.

Rydian’s grip briefly tightens, as if he doesn’t want to let me go, and the heat of his chest burns through my tunic. The logical thing to do would be to pull away, but the adrenaline rushing beneath my skin has my legs unsteady. His breath gently grazes my temples, and for the faintest of seconds, I catch the way it falters as he peers down at me.

My eyes lift when his heated gaze meets mine, brows lowering as if he’s also sensed the rising tension. The urge to say something tugs at me, but the words dissipate before they even get a chance to reach my tongue. Then I part my lips in surprise, realizing just how close he is to my mouth. And how much I actually want him to close the distance between us.

I actually want him to kiss me?

It was just this morning when I hesitated, leaving me to pull away from him, as I was too afraid to cross that line. Yet for some reason, I want it now.

Is it because of the decision I made in the archives? My decision to suddenly choose Aurelia over Elderheim?

His gaze shifts to my lips like he’s sensed where my thoughts landed, and my breath catches in my throat, thrown from the unexpected tension between us.Is he going to kiss me?

The pull of his mouth has me wanting to lean in when the hand secure around my chest lifts to my neck, as if he planned on pulling me in.

Then the suddenwhooshfrom Orin and Ivy’s arrival has me jolting back with wide eyes, swiveling my attention to the kitchenette. I nervously rub the back of my neck when both Ivy and Orin’s brows pinch, eyeing us, expressions full of confusion.The nervous trembling in my hands forces me to clench them as I realize we were just seconds from our lips touching.

Rydian remains planted when I shoot him a glance, though his heated gaze is already fixed on me. His expression and tightly clenched jaw tell me that he hates the fact that we were just interrupted, and I find myself suddenly wondering what would have happened if we weren’t.

“Now what?” I ask breathlessly.

24

It tookus three days to confirm what we thought the map might reveal—all the tunnels and hidden passageways.

We spent the first two days studying where each passage connected, where Ivy marked sections most relevant to where Elynor might be held in. Orin translated sections of old Fae text none of us recognized, while Rydian and I made overlays of the map with the current architecture, using my memory to fill in most of the blanks. While the map looked mostly updated, it’s obvious that it’s at least twenty years old.

But by today, Ivy and Orin left with a duplicate of the map to report back to Aurelia, leaving me behind to wait. Again. So I do what I always do when I’m left alone—I find something to keep my hands busy.

It takes everything in me not to growl in frustration as I feel this damn wall for the tenth time. My hands scrape over the stone, searching for the spot that moved when I was sneaking back to my chamber a week ago.

Rydian and I will be traveling tomorrow to search for the Siphon in hiding, but he told me to wait for the others beforeexploring the tunnels, since I’m not good at holding myself in the Veil just yet. But idle hands cause me to do foolish things.

Like feeling this wall at two in the morning.

Yet my frustration bubbles because the moving stone I felt against my back last week should be right where I’m standing. At least that’s what it showed on the map.

The only reason I’m here is because I feel like I need to do something—anything. Anything to keep my mind off Rydian and my incessant need to want to touch him. We’ve hardly made eye contact after stealing the map, refusing to acknowledge the heated moment between us in the loft. And definitely ignoring the curious glances both Ivy and Orin shot at us.

Huffing, I drag my nails across the thick spaces between the stones, hoping for a gap but with no luck. I smack the wall in frustration, resting my forehead against the cold stones, and grit my teeth.

Then the energy shifts as someone steps behind me, and I immediately stiffen, sensing who it is by the way cedar and leather hit my nose.Seriously? How does he do that?

“Your stealth is lacking,” Ren murmurs. “I heard you from down the hall. Why are you groping a wall at two in the morning and being loud while doing it?”

My stomach sinks with a chilling fear, but my irritation flares higher, surging to the surface. I stifle a growl and whirl around, my smile tight as I’m barely concealing the storm brewing beneath my skin.

“Do you just know where I am at all hours of the day?” I ask quietly, my teeth grinding with restraint. “Is there some invisible string I don’t know about that tugs at you and tells you what I’m doing?”

Ren only clenches his jaw, throwing me a cold stare as if I’ve already annoyed him. “Maybe I’m just good at tracking,” he says.

“You tracked me here?”

Gods, I really hope that isn’t the case. Regardless, my pulseclimbs and my eyes quickly scan the corridor, searching for anyone else who may have joined him. Dim torchlight continues to flicker in the courtyard where the guards remain at the archives. But knowing that does little to ease the curling in my stomach.

I exhale and snap my attention back to Ren just as the corner of his mouth tips into a knowing smirk. He must be joking since there’s no way he could have known I wasn’t sleeping—not at this hour. The thought barely crossed my mind before I decided to throw on my clothes and slip into the shadows.