“Isara,” the plea was strained.
I silenced him with a kiss, my hands fumbling to free him.
I needed him. Inside me. Now.
My fingers had just undone the last fastening when?—
“Varyth?”
The sound of footsteps followed quickly.
Suddenly, time slowed.
The air in my lungs turned solid as I saw Darian step onto the balcony, his gaze sweeping the space before hitting us.
A ripple of undiluted horror crossed his face. The worst kind of horror.
Pure mortification.
His mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ of shock as he registered exactly what he had stumbled upon.
Varyth and I were pressed intimately against the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist. Varyth had one hand under my tunic, the other down the front of my pants. My own hands were no better, currently frozen where they’d been unfastening his trousers. There was no room for doubt as to what we had been doing.
Darian never floundered. Never. But he did now. Miserably. And then he made a noise. It was somewhere between a scoff and a pained groan.
Varyth froze against me, his body going so still it’s a wonder he didn’t turn to stone. But before either of us could move or speak, two more figures emerged onto the balcony.
Cindrissian.
And Fenric.
The blood drained from my face.
Where Fenric looked ready to throw himself off the balcony to escape the agony of this moment, Cindrissian’s expression remained neutral.
I did not breathe.
Because although Cindrissian’s face was unreadable, his eyes were not. They found Varyth’s hands, where each rested.
And narrowed.
A long, unbearable silence stretched between us.
Then, so completely void of emotion it was somehow worse than if he’d reacted at all, Cindrissian said, “I see you’re busy.”
A vein in Varyth’s temple twitched violently. His grip on me tightened imperceptibly before he finally seemed to remember how hands worked and removed his from their incriminating locations.
Slowly, he lowered me to the ground. But he didn’t just steady me. His hands lingered. Then he quickly refastened his pants, attempting to regain some semblance of dignity.
I, meanwhile, had reached a level of shame and suffering so profound that I was preparing to launch myself into the nearest fire.
“Well,” Darian said finally, his voice strangled with the effort of not laughing. “This is... educational.”
Fenric made a sound that might have been a whimper. His eyes were fixed on the stone railing like it held the secrets of the universe and he needed to memorise every crack. “I think I’m blind. I’ve gone blind. That’s the only explanation.”
“You’re not blind,” Darian said, in that same strangled tone. “Unfortunately, we all saw—” He broke off, shoulders shaking.
“Don’t,” Fenric begged. “Please don’t make me think about what we saw. I’m trying very hard to forget.”
