She turned to go, but Pyetar caught her arm. “Does he know you tried something?”
So he still cared at least.
“I don’t think so, but the sooner I can talk to him, the better.”
Pulling from his grasp, Iryana hurried away from Pyetar. He deserved so much from her, an explanation to start. But that would have to come later. If she could make it through seeing Karvek without giving anything away. If he didn’t already know she’d left her team…
The first step of her plan was making sure Karvek didn’t suspect anything, to convince him otherwise if he did.
Iryana searched within herself for every shred of worry and doubt and tucked them deep inside so they wouldn’t leak out. She pictured coming back from the mission, going to Karvek, him revealing the mole he caught; them celebrating together. She pictured it over and over until she could hardly imagine anything else happening.
And then she knocked on his office door, heart beating far too quickly.
“Come in,” Karvek called.
She slipped through the door, finding Karvek leaned over his desk.
“General,” she greeted excitedly, slightly breathless as if she had rushed there.
Well, she was actually breathless. Because shehadnearly run.
He looked up to her, his severe gaze giving nothing away like usual.
“Did you find them?” she asked earnestly, crossing the room. She kept her face open, mustering some excitement.
“Didn’t you get back hours ago? I was expecting you to visit earlier.”
Shit. She froze. Was there suspicion in his gaze? It was impossible to tell.
She dropped her gaze to her feet. “I was a bit nervous after… the last time I saw you.”
“Do you regret it then? Kissing me?”
“I know I can trust you, that you’ll take care of me. But it’s hard not to worry.” Her voice wavered like she were ashamed.
“Do you regret it?” There was an unfamiliar edge to his voice.
Iryana forced herself to meet his eyes. They were so similar to Pyetar’s but Karvek’s were far fiercer.
“Perhaps I should. But I don’t.”
He stood, stepping far closer to her than she’d like. “You don’t need to regret anything with me. I accept you how you are.”
And he did, accepted her broken pieces. But the problem was, she didn’t think he ever wanted her to put those pieces back together.
His fingers grazed tentatively along her chin, up her jaw, around the back of her neck.
Iryana slowly shut her eyes, lips parting. As if she wanted him to kiss her.
She pretended she did, that she welcomed his touch, his understanding embrace. When in truth his touch made her want to be sick. But no, she could not think of that now.
And he did kiss her, his mouth catching hers punishingly.
Iryana tried to forget it was his mouth on hers, imagined that it was some unnamed man she was meeting in the back of the storeroom at the Dovaki Post. Let her instincts take over and not think.
When he pulled away a moment later, she realized he had captured her hands in one of his and held them tightly behind her back so that she arched against him. Karvek’s fingers were digging into her hip, holding her to him.
“So you found them then? Your mole?” She smiled slightly; too much would be out of character.
