Page 21 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

I suck in a breath, blinking away the shock. “Like…”

Cole stops his searching of the bookcase and turns toward me. “Yes. Like breaking a blood pact.”

“He wouldn’t?—”

“And how do you know he wouldn’t?”

I open my mouth to respond, then slowly close it as realization dawns on me. I don’t. The only, single thing I can trust is Melaina trusts him. And maybe that’s even a blind mistake.

Cole turns his attention back to surveying the shelves. “Exactly…and I know I broke your trust in me. So, I wanted you to see it yourself. If he’s going to break the pact, perhaps you can read in the journal how to stop him from doing so.”

“What does it look like, so I can help?”

He crouches down to the bottom shelves of the ornate bookcase. “It was a small, thin book. Smaller than anything here…”

I walk over to the other side of the desk and open the drawers.

He continues, “But it was hard to see. In my meeting, we met by candlelight. And he had stacks of maps and other things on top of it. All I could see were the words ‘Breaking Magical Binds’ on the cover.”

I begin to sift through the stacks of papers, folded letters, scrolls, magnifying glass, and items to complete a wax seal. “Did he say why he returned so early? He was supposed to be gone for several days.”

“No, he didn’t. I don’t think he ever left, to be honest.”

“It’s not in here.” I sigh and slide the drawer closed, almost pinching my fingers between the top of it and the lip of the desk. I pause, tilting my head to the side as I stare at the engraved intricacies in the thick wooden edge.

Squinting through the darkness, I kneel on the floor and run my fingers across the length of the ridges until I come across a bump.

I pinch it between my forefinger and thumb and tug it toward me gently.

What should have only been a two-inch-thick edge of the desk, turns out to be a secret drawer no bigger than the width of one book and deeper than the lengths of two.

Sitting there, in the darkness, is a small, black book.

“Is this it?” I whisper and pull the book out gently as if it’ll disappear in the wind should I remove it too quickly. But he doesn’t have to answer because as I draw it near me, there on the cover in red it says ‘Breaking Magical Binds.’

Cole looks up from where he’s been sifting through books on the shelf. A hopeful smile cracks his lips.

“Great.” I toss a look toward the windows. “Now let’s get out of here before those guards wake up and alert someone.”

As we both rise from the floor, a key rattles at the front door, and we turn toward each other, color draining from our faces. There’s no way we can make it to the window and out without being noticed.

Cole motions toward a massive, ornate wardrobe tucked into the corner of the office, and we both dash toward it.

He swings one of the doors open and I climb inside, pressing my back up against it as Cole slides in with me.

He stands toe-to-toe with me, a few inches separating us.

But as he goes to close the door behind him, it won’t budge.

I slam the book to his chest, grip his sides, and rip him into me. My breath rushes out of me as his full weight crushes my chest, and the door closes behind him. Leaving us in almost complete darkness.

My breath rises and falls in quick succession with his, the side of my face flush with his chest. I don’t dare move my hands from his ribs. Don’t dare move at all. The only movement I allow myself is breathing, and even that I force myself to steady.

Sethan’s characteristic growl is muffled by the wardrobe we’re hiding in. But based on the cadence, he’s shifting around the room. “Have you swept the patrols across the outskirts?”

“I already have a group of soldiers on it now, sir. A second group is posted at the southern part of town in case any intruders try to head south,” Corvin responds.

“Have you checked all of the Arterians?”

“Not quite, sir. We’re planning on checking all of their quarters next after we ensure the borders are secure. That way no one gets out.”

Fuck.

Cole manages to slip his hand to my shoulder, squeezing me to calm my nerves— it’s going to be okay. Though, it’s hard to ignore the slamming of his heart against his broad chest as the side of my face is pressed against it.

“We thought you might want to confirm nothing is missing, in the event we need to question anyone we catch tonight,” Corvin continues.

Shuffling sounds about the room outside, drawers sliding open and closed.

My heart hammers in my ears, picturing him getting closer and closer to finding out that the little black book is missing from his secret drawer.

And him getting closer to the wardrobe we’re hiding in.

Cole leans his head down to rest his head on top of mine.

As if he’s trying to help contain my buzzing panic.

“If you catch them with something of mine, no need to question them. Just kill them,” Sethan responds plainly and slams a drawer.

Hard.

I squeeze my eyes shut, even though it’s only a touch darker than it is in the wardrobe. He definitely found that the book is missing. Just in the way he slammed it—I know.

“Sir, the two missing guards have been located,” an unfamiliar voice calls.

“Bring me to them. Corvin, take a group and check in with those at the southern point.”

“Right away, sir,” Corvin responds.

Heavy footsteps fade into the distance, followed by a door clicking closed.

After a few frozen moments of listening to the leapfrog of mine and Cole’s pulses, he finally inhales slowly and lifts his head off mine.

A crack of light leaks into the wardrobe as Cole leans back and bumps the door open with his shoulders.

He grabs the black book between us before it falls.

The light affords me more detail. Like the way his lips are parted in longing, his eyes soft and focused solely on mine.

His warm breath stirs my hair, and a flush of heat creeps down my spine.

Sweat glistens at his forehead, the scent of him surrounding me with a deep familiarity in this tight, dark space.

As he inches slowly away from me, his heat fading from where his body pressed against mine, I realize how hopelessly longing I am for him to stay.

Oh…shit. My hands are still fisted tightly into the shirt at his sides.

I let go, my fingers rigid from how hard I clung to him.

He sucks in a breath, the motion clearing his dazed expression.

He clears his throat, tucks the book under his arm, and steps out of the wardrobe.

Then, he offers his hand to help me out.

We don’t dare speak. It’s already known how dire it is for us to get back before we’re noticed.

We slip out of the room through the window, past the alley where we knocked the guards unconscious, and through the winding dark streets of Midkeep.

We’re close. So close my heartbeat starts to slow as I recognize the street my room is on.

As we turn a corner, Cole whips toward me, his eyes wild.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“What—”

He shoves the small book to my chest and seizes the back of my thighs, lifting me clear off the ground with an ease as simple as taking a breath, then pushes me back against the stone wall in the alleyway.

The air in my lungs rushes out of me in a single breath as my shoulder blades collide with the hard wall. And suddenly.

Instantly.

Cole’s lips are on mine. Stealing every breath from my mouth as he crushes himself against me.

Demanding. Pleading. And desperate in all the ways I don’t want to admit I miss.

He doesn’t allow a single inch of space between us, leaning into me as if his life depends on it.

As if his entire existence hangs between us, and if we separate, it’ll fall to the ground and shatter in a million, incomprehensible pieces.

Footsteps approach the alleyway.

And then I understand.

Instinctively, I wrap my arms around his neck and circle my legs around his waist, tight, and drawing him into me further.

Arching my back against the wall, I force as much of my chest into his to hide the journal between us.

Cole groans an approval into my mouth. An understanding.

But Gods, does that deep, throaty sound send a chill down my spine.

One of his hands slips from the back of my leg, and he shoves himself harder between my thighs. I accidentally whimper.

Oh, fuck . This is not the pressure I need.

And definitely not the mouth I need. Not when I’m so godsdamned pissed at him.

Not when each brush of his lips and beat of his pulse against my chest threatens to wipe my memory of it all clean.

Goosebumps erupt on my skin, a gentle tingling falling across my nerves like a blanket of fresh snow with each press of his lips on mine.

Don’t. Fucking don’t, Kat.

But Gods…it’s uncontrollable. A mix of desire and familiarity floods my veins, a heat collecting between my thighs where he is. The rest of the alleyway fades away, my own pounding heart drowning out the sounds of the approaching footsteps.

Stop it. But I can’t. We can’t. You shouldn’t be touching him like this, not when he’s supposed to be engaged.

Cole slides a hand up the wall behind my head, and I grab the back of his neck, pulling him into me as I swipe my tongue across the bottom of his lip.

Shit, that was a mistake. And he knows it, too.

He breaks off our kiss with panting breaths, his eyes peeking at me through heavy lids, partially in warning, partially in gut-wrenching desire.

A group of shadows stretch across the main street, and I rip him back against me.

No time for thinking. Our lips meet again in a clash of warmth and unfettered, undeniable want.

Claiming the other with each angle, each push and pull.

Like it’s a competition. Oh, how I’ve missed this.

How I’ve wanted this. How I’ve hungered for what we once were.

“What in the realms—” someone mutters.

Well, at least we’re convincing. Maybe too convincing. I pull off Cole’s mouth, my breath loud and shaky as my hazy vision settles on our finder.

Sethan stands with several guards, all of them rigid with shock. Though, much to Sethan’s credit, he wipes it clean off his expression and returns to his normal state of contempt. “I suppose your familial ties were just a ruse?”

Cole doesn’t even bother to drag his attention off me.

His heated gaze lingers on my mouth. Instead of pulling away from me, he leans his forehead into the crook of my neck with a broken sigh that doesn’t need words.

He wanted that kiss. Needed it as much as his next breath.

And Gods, is it so terrible of me to admit I needed it, too?

“Yes,” I answer Sethan and sigh to relieve the tension gripping my chest and throat. “Just a ruse.”

The long inhale Cole sucks in at my neck prickles my skin. Like he’s steadying himself before diving into a lake. He picks his head up off the crook of my neck and drags his attention to Sethan.

Sethan narrows his gaze. “You do realize you both agreed to a curfew?”

“I…” I clear my throat to get rid of the sandy texture rasping the single vowel. “Yes. Sorry…we just…”

I look at Cole, keeping a close watch in my peripheral vision of the journal still pressed between us. His auburn hair is mussed, lips parted as he fights to regain his own breath.

“Any extracurricular intimate relations does not negate that curfew, Katerina,” Sethan scolds, then turns his attention to the guards at his side. “Escort them back to their rooms.”

Cole clears his throat, his grip still tight on my waist, his torso pressed against mine. “Might we…have a moment to tidy our appearances before we return?”

Sethan waves a hand, then turns his face away to give us a small semblance of privacy, and his guards follow suit.

Cole sets me back on my feet and grabs the journal between us before quickly pulling his shirt out of his pants.

He tugs his waistband down, revealing his deeply chiseled lower abs and the curves down toward his…

I stop and avert my gaze toward Sethan, brushing my hair down the back of my head as Cole slides the journal into the front of his waistband and tucks his shirt over it.

The pulsing of my desire slows, and my cheeks heat at how Cole can’t take his eyes off me.

Like I’m the only person in the realm. The two of us join Sethan and the other guards.

He and his soldiers scan us, but to my relief, don’t pat us down.

Sethan’s glare is an almost deathly promise. “Don’t let us catch you out after curfew again, understood?”