“Mae,” his voice rumbles, “stay with me.”
His words remind me of him pulling me from the shower, breaking down my barriers. He’s already seen me at my worst. He knows what I’m capable of, knows the depths and the lows that I can go to. Even though we’ve only known each other for a short time, he’s already opened up to me and trusted me with his past, whispering stories of his trauma in the middle of the night, the awful depravities he’s been subjected to. I need to trust him with myself, with my heart, with my kingdom.
I look up at him into his eyes, at the thin silver band bordering his black pupils and study them. His eyes resemble a solar eclipse, the pupil resembling the moon, the silver band resembling the sun trying to shine through. His eyes crinkle when he sees me looking at them, a smile on his face.
“There you are,” he whispers.
“Thank you,” I whisper back, feeling a swell of gratitude for him.
“For…?”
“For being here. For being with me.”
His lips find mine, gentle and soft on my own, his hands resting gently on my cheeks.
“Perf—” the photographer begins to shout before it’s cut off.
Marik smiles against my lips and says, “I put a shield up. He can still see us, though. Just focus on me, Mae.”
That’s all I needed.
“Do you want to dance?” he asks, holding a hand out to me.
My eyes widen. I look down at the water trickling past my feet. “I’m not sure if this is the right place to dance,” I say skeptically.
“Trust me,” he says, his hand still outstretched.
I place my hand in his and step closer, almost slipping on one of the rocks under my feet. His hand steadies me before I can fall, and he pulls me to him. He wraps his other hand around my waist and holds me as we sway together.
“See? This isn’t so bad,” he mutters. He places a kiss to my forehead.
“I can think of a million other things I’d rather be doing right now,” I mumble.
He pulls back and tilts my chin up for a kiss. “How about now?” he asks, smiling against my mouth.
I place my lips to his again. In response, his hands drift downward, grazing the still-healing gashes from the osseris. I jump at the sudden flash of pain, at the reminder of the other night.
His pupils widen, eyes turning black. I pull away, but then his pupils recede, his eyes returning to normal in an instant. The whole thing lasted a millisecond, and I would have missed it if I hadn’t already been looking at his eyes.
Or maybe I’m imagining it. Maybe the other night impacted me more than I thought.
“Shit. I’m so sorry. I forgot. I wasn’t thinking,” he says, his hands instantly moving back to my waist. “Are you okay?”
I nod slowly, trying to reign my thoughts in. The sudden flash of his eyes scared me, reminding me instantly of the eyeless faces of the cambion, the black holes where eyes should have been. I shake my head, clearing the image from my mind, then nod when I realize what he asked me.
“Yes, yes. I’m sorry,” I say, trying to convince myself. “I guess I’m still freaked out from the other night.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be over it by now. We’ll take our time, go slow. We have a whole lifetime to kiss,” he says softly, a smile forming on his face.
Suddenly, his head snaps to the right. I turn in the same direction. The photographer is running toward us, his hands waving in the air to get our attention. His eyes are wide, and his mouth is moving, but we can’t hear what he’s saying.
“Remove the barrier,” I say to Marik hurriedly.
“—K TO THE CAST—”
He sees us looking at him, and he stops yelling at us. Instead, he says at a normal volume, “Can you hear me now?”
“What’s going on?” Marik asks, his voice panicked.
