“Do you understand that?” he said, strained. “If any of them figures out what you can do, I can’t use my magic. I can’t do a damned thing exceptwatch.”
The bottle trembled slightly.
“So forgive me,” he muttered, “if I have to take the edge off.”
My fingers slipped over his. “We’ll survive this.”
He pulled away from me, still glowering. “If you’re not more careful, it’s all over.”
“What aboutyou?” I huffed, crossing my arms. “You have all the subtlety of a flying axe. Would it kill you to fawn a little?”
His brow furrowed. “What do you want from me?”
“Act like you care! Soren is watching us, and all you’ve done is grunt and scowl.”
He scowled. “I’m protecting you.”
“By acting like you can barely stand to be near me?”
“Maybe I can’t.”
Fine. If that’s how he felt, then fine.
“You’re angry. I get it. This is hard for both of us.But we’re stuck in this room together, so we should calm down before we say things we can’t take back.”
He drank.
I sighed. “That’s not going to help.”
He took another long swallow.
This wasn’t about tolerating my presence. He was terrified. Was it just because I was valuable?
I sat beside him, sighing. Behind him, a stingray glided in the glass, its wings undulating like silk.
“I’ve never seen anything so…magical.”
Kairos huffed. “You’ve hardly explored Sanguir.”
“I’m sorry. Doyouhave stingrays the size of carriages drifting past your windows?”
“No, we have turquoise rivers that glow beneath moonlight,” he grumbled with what sounded like wounded pride. “Hidden hot springs where dryads sing. Old forests where trees whisper secrets to those who listen. Not all beauty needs to glitter, my princess.”
Like him.
Kairos didn’t flash court-trained smiles. He prowled. Towered. Moved like violence barely leashed. Even brooding and half-drunk, he looked dangerous. I shouldn’t have found that wildly attractive.
I traced the line of his thighs, the casual grip of his scarred fingers on the glass, the way his chest rose and fell beneath that half-unlaced shirt. Dangerous. So gods-damned dangerous, and I wanted to climb into his lap anyway.
There was something magnetic in his rawness. He didn’t soften himself to be palatable. Didn’t care who was watching. Beneath the feral edge was a steadiness that made me feel safe—and a male who still noticed beauty in the world after a hundred years of chains.
With Kairos, there were no games. But that same honesty terrified me because when he looked at me like I mattered, I felt it inside me. A tightness. I’d never had that before.
I swallowed.
He took another drink. “I don’t like faking. It’s not who I am.”
“I know.”
