It drives him wild. Like an animal, he growls, running his strong hands all over her body. His fingers brush her neck, then move to her shoulder and slide down the slope of her body, hooking on the curve of her waist.
“Say my name again,” he moans against her lips.
Without breaking their kiss, she whispers, “Cassius.”
“Again.”
“Cassius.”
“Again.”
“Cas—”
He seizes her in an even deeper kiss before the rest of his name escapes her. Her tongue slides against his, ice against fire. Her hands roam over his white shirt, unbuttoning it and crawling to his muscular back. She claws down his spine when he bites her bottom lip. His kiss moves to her neck.
“When you call my name like that,” he says, panting against her skin, “I will come running. I don’t care if we are oceans apart. I will always come for you.”
Her voice shakes when she says, “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
His kisses slow. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”
He must sense her stiffening below him, so he pulls back, assessing her expression. “What is it? Do you want me to stop?”
She shakes her head. “I want you. I’m just scared,” she says.
“What are you so afraid of? Losing me? Something happening to me? Where is all this coming from?”
She can’t tell him the whole truth, but she can tell him things that aren’t lies. “You need to choose your future over me. I can’t live with myself if I take that from you. You’re so close to everything you want with Triche. Besides, if anything distracts me, ifI make one single mistake, he won’t let me stay. Who knows—he may be prepared to expel me anyway if he feels like I’m taking you away from the path of godhood. It’s simply not a good idea.”
His eyes narrow. “What are you keeping from me?”
How does he always see right through her? “I’m not keeping—”
“No, you are keeping something, and you’ve been keeping something. Things changed after the night ofThe Deer and the Daughter. It was that night.”
She stammers, waiting for words to come, but they don’t.
“It was in the observatory when you looked at my stars,” Cassius continues. “What did you see that made you want to run?”
“I’m not running from you. That’s the last thing I’m doing. I’m fighting for you. I just need you to trust me, okay? Will you trust me?”
“Will you tell me what you saw?”
No.Not now. Not when there’s some hope to undo it. “You wouldn’t believe it anyway.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Cas—”
“You can’t do this, Jolicoeur.” His arms start to untangle from her. He’s pulling away. “You can’t deny yourself on the basis of your disproven stars.”
“I’m not having this fight with you again. You don’t have to believe in the stars to make them real for me. Fate does not hinge on whether or not you trust that it will come to pass.” Gods, that was melodramatic. She needs to get out of this room.
“Well, if fate is so permanent, then it’s already decided that you’ll either have me or you won’t. I don’t know what you intend to do to change it.”
She shudders. “Neither do I.”
“So we’re done here, then.”
