The sound of something vibrating against my cheek woke me from a deep sleep.
Drowsy, I lifted my heavy eyelids with some effort, only to find that I couldn’t see anything. I was in pitch darkness, with not even a single star to shed any light on my surroundings. A jumble of confused thoughts hit me at once—where was I? What happened? How long had I been asleep?
The last thing I remembered was flying at breakneck speed toward the Gaoth Aire mountains, clutched in Einar’s fist. Had we made it? I knew I’d passed out from using too much magic, but I thought we’d taken down most of the griffins before that had happened.
A shard of guilt niggled in my chest as I remembered watching those magnificent bird-beasts drop from the sky, but I quickly forgot it when the flat plane against my cheek vibrated again. Blinking, I reached a hand up to feel what I was lying against, and jolted rippled through me when I met soft linen fabric and hard muscle.
Einar. It was Einar I was lying on top of.
My heart pounded at the realization, but I didn’t move. He had one arm thrown around my waist, as if to hold me against him, and one of his hands was loosely tangled in my hair. As if on cue, his fingers scraped against my scalp in a gentle massage, sending tingles down my spine. I shivered a little, and his arm tightened around me, as if he were afraid I might try to get up.
I reallyshouldtry to get up.
But there was something comforting about being in his embrace, enveloped by his masculine scent. He smelled like wood smoke and starlight, like a blazing campfire beneath a brilliant night sky, crisp and sharp and full of promise. Something stirred inside me as I inhaled his scent, something that made me want to spread imaginary wings of my own and fly, fly, fly.
Against my better judgment, I slid my hand up his chest. That steady rumble wasn’t just breathing—it was almost like a purr, a subconscious resonance of satisfaction. As if holding me in his arms brought him peace.
But how could that be, when he hated me and my kind as much as he claimed?
My fingers trailed higher, over his Adam’s apple, along the edge of his jaw, across his chin. I was mapping his face with my fingertips, like a blind person might when trying to imagine what someone looked like. My forefinger sank into his pillowy lower lip, and the tip of his hot tongue brushed against my skin.
The intimate contact sent a flood of warmth rushing through my body, and I snatched my hand back, heart pounding with mortification and exhilaration. Einar’s eyes blinked open, and my breath stuttered to a halt in my chest. There was something different about his gaze as he stared at me through heavy-lidded eyes—his irises, golden once more, were the same, but the pupils had narrowed to vertical slits, giving them the same reptilian shape they had when he was in dragon form.
“Einar?” I asked hesitantly, not entirely sure if he was awake.
He gave another deep rumble in response, then slid his hand up the back of my neck. I gasped as he buried his fingers in my nape and tilted my head back, and before I knew what was happening, his mouth slanted over mine.
The press of his mouth—soft, warm, inviting—sent sparks skipping through me, and I instinctively dug my fingers into his shoulders before I remembered myself. Chagrined, I opened my mouth to protest, but he took advantage immediately, slipping his tongue in to stroke against mine.
He kissed me with the hunger of a raging firestorm, illuminating the night with its brilliance and devouring everything in its path. I felt like a pile of kindling struck by lightning—abruptly alive and burning with a fierce flame that threatened to consume me whole.
And yet, I didn’t want to let go. I wanted to kiss him back, tolethim consume me until there was nothing left of my pain but ashes.
The moment I thought that, the memory of thelasttime I’d been kissed reared up in my head, like a viper waiting in the recesses of my mind for this exact moment to strike. The pitying look on Dune’s face when he told me we couldn’t be together, that he would never marry me, was like a punch to the gut, and I jerked back, breaking the kiss.
“No,” Einar growled, yanking me back into him. “You’remine.”
The voice that rumbled up from his chest sounded different, more guttural, as if it had come from the deep bowels of some predatory beast. He tried to kiss me again, but this time I shoved him with all my strength, sending him skidding across the floor. Heart pounding, I leapt to my feet, a flame erupting in the palm of my hand to cast a flickering glow against the pitch dark shadows.
“What in the blazes?” Einar snapped, sitting up. He shoved a hand into the tangled mass of his shoulder-length brown hair as he blinked up at me, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. My heart galloped in my chest as I stared at him, my entire body trembling from the rush. “Why did you wake me, Adara? Did something happen?”
“Yeah, you kissed me!” I jabbed a finger at him, as though I were accusing him of a terrible crime. “I woke up to find you in my arms, and then when I tried to get up you pulled me into your chest and shoved your tongue inside my mouth!”
“I—” he sputtered in disbelief, his entire face reddening with embarrassment. It might have been comical if I hadn’t been so shaken by the encounter. “That’s impossible. You must have been dreaming.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t fantasize about sloppy dragon kisses when I close my eyes at night,” I shot back, my own cheeks heating. I knew I hadn’t been entirely truthful with my portrayal of what had happened, but I couldn’t admit to him that I’d enjoyed being in his arms, that I’d touched his face and run a finger over his luscious mouth. “It’s bad enough that I have to deal with you while I’m awake.”
Einar stilled at my words. “Is that so?” he said, his eyes narrowing. I noticed his pupils had returned to normal, but I didn’t have time to wonder about the change. “Well in that case, maybe I should have left you at Lady Mossi’s mercy instead of flying in to rescue you.”
“I was handling that—” I said hotly, though a twinge of guilt pricked me as I remembered that he had, in fact, rescued me—
“Or maybe I should have left you earlier, when your own villagers turned on you. Or when the dire wolves were about to rip you to shreds.” The scathing tone in Einar’s voice tore at me as he got to his feet, his white teeth flashing in the low light as he bared them in a snarl. “Don’t worry Adara, you won’t have todealwith me any longer. Since you can handle yourself just fine on your own, I’ll be going.”
He stalked out of the cave, spine rigid, fists balled at his sides. The twinge of guilt became a sharp stab, and my stomach dropped into my shoes as he disappeared into the snowy expanse.
Giant’s teeth, what had I been thinking, saying something so awful? Tears of shame flooded my eyes as I realized how petulant I’d been, and I rushed out of the cave after him, wanting to make it right. The horizon was already lightening, heralding the coming dawn, and I could just make out his silhouette.
“Einar!” I shouted, rushing after him, but he was too far ahead, his long-legged stride eating up the ground. Before I could even try to close the distance, wings sprouted from his back, ripping through his already-tattered shirt. My jaw dropped as he took a running start and leaped off the mountainside, then caught an updraft and soared away.
