“Is that a hint of jealousy I hear?” he teases, his thick brow arching as he trails behind me.
I roll my eyes, letting out an exaggerated sigh. “Jealous? Please.I'm just sorry for any woman who's ever been foolish enough to hand you their heart. They should have been smarter, not be deceived by the act you play.I see right through you.”
“If you see right through me,” he pauses, halting mere inches away from my body, gazing down towards me, “what am I feeling at this moment?”
His emerald eyes glisten as he rubs his lips, revealing the healed scar along his bottom lip as he boldly takes another step forward, erasing any distance left between us.
“What do I want at this moment?” His voice drops to a whisper. I swallow and freeze, even if my insides are scorching.
Say nothing, Serene. Feel nothing. My hands curl into fists at my side as he leans down, his breath tickling my ear. “Do you feel thatsparkdeep inside you when I am near you?”
I exhale slowly, watching my breath form white clouds, dancing in the air from my lips. He calls it a spark, but I refuse to call it that. Not a spark. More like anirritation, aconsuming rage. Aburningdesireto drive my knee into the very part of him that would finally make him groan in agony and release me from whatever the hell this is.
“Spark?” I tilt my head, glaring into his playful eyes as our noses almost touch. “More like a thorn jabbed into my stomach, too deep to ever remove but painful at all times. Stuck inside me forever.You’re my thorn.”
A small grin pulls at the corner of his lips. “I’ll gladly be your thorn. Thorns are always connected to the most beautiful things.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” My voice trembles as his eyes fall to my lips.
“If I am your thorn, then I am connected to you.My most beautiful thing.”
I am airless.
My body pulses with a scorching heat, despite the frozen air around us. My lips are irresistibly drawn to him, as if under a spell, driven by a hunger to touch him. As if I have been starving this whole time. A blaze courses through me, sizzling my senses as well as blinding me to what I am doing. I yearn to taste his lips, to devour this craving. Our eyes lock, darting to our lips with a desire that cannot be contained. The ache to just let this happen is violently ripping through me, each heartbeat thundering in my chest, my body trembling with urgency as the space between us vanishes.
He is so close.Too close.
If either of us moves, our lips will collide.
My body burns, almost on the brink of combustion.
“No,”I whisper, the heat from my breath beating between us. “I will not be just another woman for you to toy around with. I won’t let this happen.”
“You will never be just another woman to me.”
“I can’t do this. I won’t.” I push away from him, clearing my throat and adjusting my body. My eyes flicker, blurring as I look away from him. I told myself I wouldn’t feel, I wouldn’t love anyone from this Realm, because I must return home.
Maybe the archives will have a way to curse meto never love.
He pulls back, adjusting his shirt and daggers, avoiding my direction. “You really find me that awful, don’t you?”
“I just don’t trust you.” I side-eye him, watching his lips pull between his teeth before letting out a shaky breath.
“I’m glad you don’t. You have always been smart, which is what I admire the most about you.” He shoots a piercing glance my way, his emerald eyes filled with a mix of longing and regret. His eyes drop to the snow. “I should have kissed you before the truth shatters everything.”
“What truth?” My voice heightens.
“Where the hell have you two been?” Florian darts from around the trees, his voice in a frantic as he catches his breath. “I have been searching everywhere for the two of you! We don’t have much time!”
“You could have killed her! Why would you risk that?” Koen takes a powerful stride toward his brother. “What is going on with you lately?”
“But she didn’t die!” Florian bellows, his eyes drifting from Koen’s to meet mine. “The elder I fear… was right. I had to try this after I heard Queen Antivianna talking to Skie about the possibility of this. She wants Serene dead.”
“No! The elder wasn’t right, Florian!” I screech. “I am not who she says I am!”
“She was. She is…right. I have just been blind to see this.” Florian walks closer to us and he grabs my shoulders. “How could I have not remembered you?”
Koen’s nostrils flare, clearing his throat as he takes Florian’s hand off my shoulder. “Unsure what the hell this is,brother, but like you said, we don’t have much time.”
