He blinked at her. “They’ll all die. I’ll make sure of it.”
“It’s all right, Bram—”
He made a sound of frustration, as if she was being deliberately obtuse. “The Fray line will end with me, do you understand?I will end their line.”
His voice had risen in volume, and Leena glanced toward the door, afraid that the innkeeper might have heard the noise and come to investigate.
She tried to settle him, but she could see from his eyes that he was disoriented, his consciousness filtering through realities. He grasped for the pistol hidden in her pocket, and to calm him Leena placed a hand against his cheek, the short stubble scratching her skin.
Instantly, his entire body stilled, as if in both dread and anticipation.
Then, a deep shudder ran through him and he clasped his own hand around hers, tilting his jaw sideways to kiss the center of her palm.
The gesture was so uncharacteristically tender that it could only be the act of a delirious man—an insensible mind.
Leena could not deny that a growing part of her wished that it was deliberate, that this could be the flame that burned away all that stood between them—the contract, the title, the difference in their bloodlines.
It felt to Leena that everything up until this point had been an interlude—starting in the cave, igniting since then, catching fire now.
But she drew away shakily, trying to smile through the pangs of her own foolish heart so as not to distress him further. “You must rest—”
Bram’s fingers tightened over her wrist, ignoring her. His brows furrowed. “Damnthe demons anddamntheir visions of you. This time, I am going to finish it.”
In one powerful movement, he pulled her toward him, crushing her body against his, taking her mouth with ferocity. He swallowed her gasp, and she could feel the rapid beats of his heart against her own chest.
It was a hard kiss, his lips bruising against hers, speaking to her of yearning, ofsuffering.Leena distantly felt his fingers intertwining themselves with her hair, then moving to command her face to turn just so,to open to him.
She clenched his shirt to anchor herself, her lungs incapable of drawing in enough air to keep her heart pumping in a steady rhythm. She could not form any coherent thoughts while his hands caressed her face, her hair, her neck.
But his next words almost undid her resolve.
“Not enough,” he murmured against her jaw, his kiss suddenly turning gentle, trailing across her cheek to below her earlobe where her pulse thrummed, lingering there for a single incinerating moment, then back to the ache of her lips.
In that kiss, Leena could taste all the lingering looks he’d ever given her, all the rare smiles, all the frustration—all for her.
Against her better judgment, she felt herself meeting Bram with the same intensity—it was always going to be this way.
For a blazing moment, Leena could not think of the consequences as she threw her arms around his neck, balancing herself on her tiptoes, kissing him back unreservedly.
When he felt her response, whatever reserve he held over himself cracked. His embrace turned to iron, the kiss a searing possession.
She wanted to stay beside him…against him…with him…
She wanted—
No.
A spark of electricity coursed through her, and she gasped from the pain of it, jerking away. The motion was so powerful it almost caused her to fall back, and in a second the pain was gone. But it was enough to bring Leena back to her senses.
This was not the Bram in the cave, almost kissing her, then turning away. This was an insensate Bram, half intoxicated with fever and poison. Leena could never comprehend the number of choices that had been taken away from him throughout his life.
If he kissed her now, she wanted it to be something he hadchosen.
She felt unsteady on her feet, as if the floorboards were shifting around her, and she grabbed the bedpost to keep upright.
Bram, too, looked stunned, a high color staining his cheeks. His breathing was ragged, and he dragged an unsteady hand through his hair. “The demons know the exact ways to drive a mind to insanity.” His voice was hoarse as he reached out to trace her lips with his thumb, his eyes losing focus as he followed the movement. Leena’s hand tightened on the post. “By far, you are the softest insanity—”
Then he staggered suddenly, his fist clenching against his wound, his face contorted in fresh waves of pain. Leena had never seen him like this, his shoulders trembling in agony.
