His gaze had dropped to her lips. Slowly. Intentionally. As though pulled by gravity he no longer fought.
Her breath stalled.
“You don’t have to be careful with me,” she whispered. The words slipped out before she could second-guess them. Maybe it was the steam. Maybe it was the way her heart refused to settle.Maybe it was the fear that if she didn’t say it now, she never would.
She meant it even despite everything she didn’t know, despite everything she hadn’t done.
Jakob’s head snapped toward her, eyes burning.
“That,” he said in a voice low and rough, “is exactly why I must be careful with you.”
Her pulse thundered, loud in her ears.
He leaned in just enough that she felt the warmth of his breath against her cheek and felt the moment stretch thin and fragile between them.
Her heart stopped, but he didn’t kiss her.
Instead, he tore his gaze away and pressed his palms hard against his thighs, like he needed to physically anchor himself. His chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven breaths.
Mallory watched him while ache and longing tangled inside her. “Jakob,” she said softly, “what are you afraid of?”
His eyes flicked to hers and she read the raw wanting.
“You,” he whispered.
Her breath caught. He wasn’t afraid of hurting her. He was afraid of what she made him become.
Mallory inched closer, drawn to him like a tide, like something inevitable. But Jakob stood abruptly and the sudden distance landed like a punch to her chest.
“We should go,” he said. His voice was strained and he was already turning away.
Mallory nodded even though her heart ached. She wanted to scream at him for bringing her to this beautiful place just to crush her heart. But she knew better.
The air between them pulsed like it was charged with electricity as they left the hidden spring. She walked behind him and stared at the broad line of his shoulders, the power in his stride, and the storm that simmered just beneath his control.
Jakob wasn’t just fighting temptation. He was fighting something deeper. Something wild.
Something that felt frighteningly like a destiny that she was all for.
CHAPTER 9
Jakob
After a sleepless night with nothing more than thoughts of Mallory, Jakob was in his chamber room the next morning doing “king stuff” as she would say when he felt it.
That sharp, tearing sensation that almost stopped his heart.
Fear, searing and unmistakably hers, slammed into him without warning like a white-hot blade driven straight between his ribs. His breath caught. His heart stuttered.
Mallory.
“Your Majesty?"
Dozens of eyes stared at him as he suddenly launched himself off his throne.
He ignored them and spun toward the sensation. Without a word, he ran outside just as the sound reached him.
A scream that tore through the thin mountain air.
