“You’re hurt,” I say, putting a hand to his chest. His hand intercepts mine. He holds it gently in his, and I freeze.
Our eyes meet. His stare is intense, so I instead look down at his lips. I’m curious. Is he a good kisser? He seems to be good at most things. I feel brave, stupidly so. Leaning forward, I rise on to my tiptoes.
“What are you doing?” Taron asks.
I peel away from him. “Are you not attracted to me?”
It’s unlike me to be so forward, to lay my insecurities bare. But right now, I’m high on dragon’s poison, grade-three healing tonic and the sting of rejection.
When he doesn’t say anything, I reach out to him, curling my fingers around the drenched fabric of his shirt. He doesn’t resist when I draw him closer, and we stand together beneath the cascade of water. There it is again, the pull between us – it’s magnetic, dangerous.
I trace the path of a stray droplet gliding down his face. It pools in the corner of his mouth, so precariously close to mine. “Taron…”
“Don’t say anything.” His hand trails my cheek, hesitating on my bottom lip. It’s a gesture so tender, so entirely unexpected, that it leaves me momentarily breathless.
My pulse ricochets and my body betrays me. As frissons of electricity prickle down my spine, I take his hand and guide it along the contours of my body.
His palm glides over my stomach, following the curve of my ribs until it rests gently against the softness of my chest.
“You’re still burning up,” he says as he pins me against the slick tiles of the shower wall. Something dangerous and powerful beats in my chest. I lean into his touch.
“At least I haven’t burst into flames yet.”
“Not funny.”
But it is. It shouldn’t be, but I can’t help it. Just like I can’t help the way his frown strikes me as hysterical. I clamp my hand over my mouth, but a snort breaks free, followed by peals of laughter that leave me gasping.Damn you, poisoned dragon’s scale.
He brushes a wet strand of hair from my forehead. His fingers are velvet against my skin, too gentle to belong to a monster. His ice-blue eyes are tender. He leans closer.
I won’t stop him, I think.
To my surprise, he reaches around me to turn off the shower.
“Let’s get you to bed,” Taron says. “You need to rest and let the tonic do its job.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
It’s a peculiar intimacy, sitting with my bare back to Taron as he tends to my laceration. He dabs the wound with a rag soaked in grade-one healing tonic. It stings, and I draw in a startled breath.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” Taron asks, lifting the cloth.
I shake my head no and he continues to work. I try to focus on his breathing, each slow inhale followed by an even slower exhale.
My own breath seems to be stuck in my throat. I’d like to think it’s a lingering effect of the poisoned dragon’s scale, but the grade-three healing tonic seems to have done the job. There’s no denying it’s due to something else entirely.
My mind is clear again, and any sense of delirium is gone. I smother the memory of two bodies pressed togetherin a shower. Taron and I are teammates. This tenuous bond we have is built on survival, not trust.
Up until now, our relationship has been brittle, fragile at best. Taron has only just started to let me in. I can’t afford to do anything that would make him shut down again.
Whatever that moment was – however breathless it left me, the feeling of his fingertips still lingering on my skin now – I can’t under any circumstances let it happen again.
I distract myself by focusing on the cabin around me. To call it a cramped space would be an understatement. The cabin has little room for more than a narrow double bed and a clothes railing pushed into the corner by the door.
Our newly assigned uniforms hang neatly on hangers, black this time, along with another scroll hanging by a red-and-gold ribbon. The next Competitors’ Brief, no doubt.
“All done,” Taron says as he pulls away. “It already looks much better.”
I get off the bed, clutching my damp vest against my chest. Even though I have my back to him, I can feel Taron’s eyes following me across the cabin. I throw the damp vest on the floor, take its replacement off the hanger and pull it over my head.
