Page 24 of Of Nightmares & Fire (Elusive Umbra #1)
“It’s nothing.” I excuse myself from his side and sit in one of the chairs without waiting, wincing when my backside meets the chair.
Though the balm has definitely aided my healing, it’s not instant.
When he finally moves, he takes the seat opposite, and only a moment of awkward silence later the staff comes bustling out onto the terrace with a cart of food.
I’m immediately engulfed in the scents of glazed meats, potatoes, and vegetables.
Fruit pies and creamy desserts. They place a plate before both of us, uncovering it and pouring water into our chalices.
Of course my father wouldn’t allow wine.
I roll my eyes at the staff as they go to stand a distance away, but close enough that they can likely hear anything we talk about.
“Are you always this closely monitored?” He questions, eyeing me with a tilt of his head.
“I mean, yeah, pretty much.” I admit, looking at the staff out of the corner of my eye. Kyros keeps his eyes trained on me, only making a humming noise deep in his throat, like he is studying my every movement. Just as he did in the tavern, and I can’t help but feel inadequate. “Why?”
“It just seems like you are a bit like a prisoner instead of a princess.” He says, and I kick my foot out, whacking him right in the shin. “Ow… Did you just kick me?” The look on his face is bemused.
“You can’t say stuff like that!” I whisper-shout through clenched teeth.
Low enough, I think, that the closest of the staff can’t hear.
Though there is no way to be sure. My eyes are sideways looking at them when Kyros reaches over the table and guides my face back toward him, his fingers gently pinching my chin in their grip.
My eyes round at the thought of the many sets of eyes watching him openly touch me outside of a gentlemanly escort.
“I will say and do whatever I want, Shula.” He says, leaning in closer, and I swear the wings that live to torment me in my stomach around him take flight yet again.
Clearing my throat, I sit back further, taking my chin out of his reach and looking at him through my lashes.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I almost saw a smirk on his face.
“So, Kyros Kahzal of Diemos, what is the point of these dinners, then? Everyone knows that it’s my father who the suitors really aim to impress.” I say, and his eyes darken.
“You and I both know by now, I don’t aim to impress anyone.
” I suppose he is right in that. I have only seen him rather grumpy and not very friendly; he can't be aiming to impress anyone with such a personality, but still. He keeps looking over my shoulder, and I want to look back, but I already know it’s likely one of the staff getting closer and trying to hear our conversation.
We continue to eat, and our conversation lulls as I watch him continually eyeing the bodies around us with a hostile sort of tension, and an idea springs to life in my mind.
“Can we go for a walk?” I stand abruptly, and his brows hike; a smirk transforms his face. The semi-joyous look makes the butterflies flutter once again.
“We can…” He stands too and offers me an arm, which I immediately take before I lose my gall, and because I’m going to need him to listen closely.
We begin leisurely walking through the library, which is now lit by the hearth on the wall, and I begin telling him about all the time I have spent here.
How it’s one of my favorite rooms in the castle, and right before we reach the dark tapestry that covers the narrow passage in the wall, I chance a glance over my shoulder.
When I notice the one spy disguised as a staff member looking over his own shoulder, I act.
“This way!” I whisper, pulling Kyros by his hand into the crevice in the wall.
I have to bite my lips hard to stop myself from laughing.
The passage is very narrow, making our bodies nearly press into one another.
One of my hands presses into the firm plane of his chest, and his hand rests lightly at my hip.
“Where did they go?” I hear someone on the other side of the tapestry say, and I can’t help the giggle that tries to escape before a warm hand comes up and covers my mouth.
“Careful, Shula, or you will give away your secrets.” I swallow under his hand, and then when we hear the footsteps fading as they continue looking for us, I tug his hand from my mouth and toward one of my favorite hidden rooms in the castle.
When we break through the other side, I have a huge smile on my face.
Not only have I not been in this space for far too long, but giving my father’s lackeys the slip just makes everything in me lighter.
Easier to feel happiness that is entirely harder to come by.
Usually, I have at least hours before he is brought in to help find me, but given what has happened recently, I doubt I will be as lucky.
I stop in the center of the tall circular room, and my eyes land on Kyros, but again, he’s not looking at the room at all, but at me.
In this lighting, the silver glow of the moon shining brightly through all the windows in the periscope of a room, it appears that he is drinking me in like a man without water at the Dead Sea.
“This is one of my favorite, most secret hideaways in the castle. Not many people know about it, but now I am trusting you with the secret.” I smile smaller at him and turn to walk to the window seat at the far center.
“What is this place?” His voice startles me at the proximity, but aside from a sharper influx of breath, I keep my voice steady when I respond.
“I’m not really sure. I like to pretend that the old king used to come here to get lost in his dreams, or perhaps he came here to talk to the stars on nights such as these.” I laugh halfheartedly.
“And why do you come here, Shula?” He is standing so close to my back I can feel the warmth radiating from his body. The earthy, warm scent of a smoky fire, laced with honey, wraps around me and makes it difficult to swallow .
“I guess I come here for the same reason. A place I can just be ; no eyes watching or no expectations to be something I’m not.” A shiver rolls over my skin, peppering the flesh with goosebumps.
“But you brought me here? Is there still no expectations?” He whispers from where he stands behind me, and his breath caresses the shell of my ear.
“No eyes watching,” His fingertips hover over the skin of my upper arm and barely touches, gliding down to my elbow and back up again.
Taking a deep breath, my head tilts to the side, offering him the column of my neck.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I brought him here to ask questions.
I can tell he and his brother are different.
They don’t seem inclined to trip on my father’s every word or every— OH.
Kyros runs his nose along the column of my neck in a slow drag, still barely touching, but the heat from him is scorching. He breathes me in, and a growl builds low in his throat.
“Maybe I brought you here so you could be lost in a dream.” I press him, unable to contain the lust I feel in the moment. I turn around to face him. His eyelids are just as heavy as mine as he leans over me.
“ You are very dangerous, Shula.” He says, his hands still hovering. They come up to trail the line of my jaw. “But I don’t get lost in dreams or hide from my nightmares, and neither should you. If you don’t want to be something you’re not, choose to be who you are.”
“Is that what you do? Do you never hide who you really are?” I ask him .
“Sometimes the choice is opposite; the decision to hide what we really are because maybe it’s the realm that is not ready for the truth.” His lips are hovering over mine. All I have to do is push up on my tip toes and allow him to claim my mouth, but his words confuse me and cause me to pause.
“ASTRAEA!” My father’s bellowing voice echoes through the small space around us, and I flinch. “Come out from wherever it is you’re hiding at once!”
“Stay here. When we leave—”
“No.” Kyros interrupts, but before I can tell him anything else, he turns around and stalks out from behind the tapestry.
“Fuck!” I grind out under my breath.