He pushed against her harder.
And then she realized.
He was hard.
He was rock hard against her.
He released just one of her hands, slithering across her ribs, then her waist. His fingers halted at the band of her skirt.
His hands did not shake. His breaths were long and deep. Maeve was the opposite. Every part of her was trembling, shaking beneath his touch.
His fingers meticulously gathered the fabric of her skirt while his lips never left hers.
Her heart slammed into her chest over and over. It drowned out the fear in her head saying to stop. Saying that his palm shouldn’t graze her thigh like that. Saying she shouldn’t feel his smooth fingers on her hips with nothing between them. That she shouldn’t feel his fingers pull her panties to the side and-
“I want to feel you,” he murmured into her lips.
And in the next move, he would have.
But the world exploded instead.
Their hands shot to their heads as an excruciating and violently piercing sound filled their heads. Maeve dropped to her knees, dizzy and disoriented. Mal tried to cast out a shield. But it vanished into nothing. Maeve screamed as she pressed her hands against her face. Her insides were on fire. Every ounce of blood in her body was pulsing.
He grabbed her shoulders. His face contorted in pain. He pulled her off the stone floor and ran, dragging her along as she stumbled behind him. Maeve looked around them as they ran. The caverns were whole. Not a single rock or crumble of stone shook.
Her vision blurred in and out of focus as they ascending the winding rock stairs out of the mountains. Waves of paralyzing nausea crashed over her. She pulled on his arm, desperate to just breathe for a moment.
“We must keep going, Maeve.”
She didn’t want to. Her back slid against the stone wall. Mal’s hands slammed to either side of her face.
“Look at me,” he said sternly.
His hand twitched, and his teeth were grinding. He was in pain, too.
“We don’t know what that was,” said Mal. “We can’t stop.”
She nodded, and he took her hand tightly in his own.
Once they reached the dungeons, they bolted to the foyer. The castle was in pure chaos. All the fire lights were dark. Screams and cries filled the nighttime air. Mal’s grip on her hand was still tight.
Fear crept into her bones and settled there. It was everywhere.
Chapter 31
By the time they reached the Serpentine Common Room Maeve’s body was no longer on fire. A dull pain lingered at her temples, but she was otherwise fine. She and Mal had not been the only ones to experience the unexplained pain.
Abraxas and Maeve embraced firmly.
“You’re alright, Brax?” Maeve asked.
He nodded. “You?”
“I’m fine now. What the hell was that?”
“That was the worst pain I’ve ever felt,” said Roswyn. “And I’ve been in some nasty fights. “
Maeve sat on the arm of one of the black leather couches and heaved a sigh. The emerald green common room was lit only by the moonlight pouring past the water of the lake against the vaulted windows that surrounded the circular room. In the dim green darkness, Maeve looked to Mal.
