Page 149 of To Touch A Silent Fury

“They’re not here.” It was an obvious statement, and yet I said it anyway, my voice barely more than a breath. Hanindred was still sleeping, his mind far from me.

Lang shook his head, letting a breath out in a hiss through gritted teeth. “Maybe we should check his quarters after all.”

I looked back at the wall panel, sat open. With the curtain pulled away, the window showed the castle’s walls and the rooftops of the city beyond. Between the reddish roofs and marble walls, canals slithered like dark roads, converging in the distance in the great water channels that would hug the tiny islands from here to the coast proper. The twilight touched the water and mixed with the growing lamplight, scattering purple and white across the water top. Only hours ago, I slept in preparation for a journey with my dragon and my closest friend,on a boat peeling across that lapping water, and now they were both gone, locked from me.

Lang groaned. I turned my face from the window and saw him staring at the floor, his hand balled into a fist.

“What is it?”

He shook his head. “It’s just as you said. I’m a monster.”

I took a step forwards. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Don’t.” He raised a hand, keeping me away and still not looking up.

I stilled, studying his tense form. “Lang.”

He looked at me then, and his expression was entirely tortured. “I understand now why the world hasn’t allowed there to be more than one of you. It’s too much to bear.” My brow furrowed as he continued. “You are suffering. Your dragon has been taken from you. Your closest friend. My own friend, injured. I have hurt you so many times, and you look at me with no cruelty. I deserve it, I deserve your anger. Your entire life is falling apart, and somehow, all I can think about is how I will never breathe again if I cannot kiss you.”

My heart thudded against my bones, and my hands quivered at my sides.

“Curse me,” he demanded.

“I will not.”

“Curse me,” he repeated. “Tell me I am a heartless cad. Tell me you despise me. Tell me you could never want me how I want you.”

“No.”

“Tani.” He stepped forwards, the lamplight catching against the scaling fire in his eyes. “You must not allow me even the smallest hope for you. For like the moon, I will hang in the darkness for all eternity, isolated from any other touch, thinking only of you. Do me this one cruelty now, and I will stop talking of it forever.”

I said nothing, for there was nothing I wanted to say. I barely breathed, my throat tight. He breathed heavily enough for both of us, weighted by his confession.

“Curse me,” he demanded, stepping closer again. Our hands were inches from each other, and our lips closer still. “Curse me and break this spell you have over me.”

I stared at his mouth. He reached up but did not let his hand brush my face. Trembling, I leaned forwards, and the Dragon Prince’s rough palm touched my cheek.

If one could drown in desire, I might have done then. My need for him, and his for me, consumed us so entirely the room faded into nothing. We were the night sky itself, endless and expansive.

Lang leaned forwards, resting his forehead on mine. “Curse me,” he breathed.

I cannot.I cannot.

My hands curled at my sides as I let the words fall. “I cannot.”

“Then kiss me,” he whispered.

His fingers tipped my chin, and then I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his.

He breathed out a moan, and his hand snaked behind my neck as he pressed his mouth against mine. My breath was locked in my chest, caged as I hung in that moment, revelling in the feeling of his mouth pushing against mine. Soft, eager, warm. It was childlike in its exploration. Foundational in its worship. I could hardly think.

Then I opened my mouth to gasp in some air, and Lang pushed me back, his lips pressing to mine in small insistent kisses, and I grabbed onto his shoulders as he guided me by the waist until we hit the curtained wall. We did not break apart, my eyes staying closed as he kissed me harder, pushing his body against mine.

I whimpered, the feeling of his mouth against mine heady, but when combined with our rushing emotions I needed his hands on me to keep from falling as his victory, impulse, and yearning met my pulsing need, craving, and submission. Kiss me more, touch me more. There was nothing but this, and us.

Lang’s hand at my waist held firm, his thumb brushing my ribs as he kissed hard enough to bruise and yet still not hard enough.

Then, through the blood swirling in my ears, I heard it. Muffled voices at the door.