“I’m not supposed to want you,” he breathed against my mouth. “But I do.”
There was nothing I wanted more than him right now.
“Why not?” I asked, breathless with confusion.
“You’re human, Brynn.”
I swallowed hard, pulling away from him. I hadn’t thought of that being an issue.
I hadn’t ever heard of a wolfkin and a human… having children, or being together… in that way. Not like this. Not in the way I suddenly, desperately wanted.
“So?” I pushed, my voice barely above a whisper.
He looked at me like I was breaking his heart. Maybe I was.
“So you might not know this, but if a wolfkin beds a human, it kills us. We’re forbidden. It’s cursed.” His words hit like stones. “We’re not supposed to…” His gaze dropped to my lips. “We can’t be together like that.”
He stood suddenly, like he needed distance tobreathe, like he was waking from a spell. My heart shattered with the silence he left behind.
That kiss… no, my soul hadfeltthat kiss.
“You can’t tell me we weren’t made to kiss like that,” I whispered, stepping forward and pressing my body to his back, desperate for him to turn around.
But Kaelric didn’t move.
He didn’t say a word.
He just walked away, opening the door of the mountain cell, burying me inside of it when he closed it and left me behind.
Chapter Twenty-One
It had been nearly a week since Kaelric kissed me.
A week since he’d pulled away like it hadn’t meant anything.
Human. We can’t be together. We’re cursed. I shouldn’t want you, but I do.
His words haunted me. We hadn’t spoken since. Just clipped nods during meals and short glances that burned hotter than they should’ve. He hadn’t so much as brushed my arm in passing. Had barely met my eyes.
That hurt worse than the kiss.
Because that kiss had meant something to me. It had unraveled every wall I’d built around my heart, only for him to act like it never happened.
At his request,his request, I’d been training with Cassian. We were inseparable, eating every mealtogether and working late into the night. A bond had formed between us, one that confused me.
Every morning, just after dawn, Cassian met me at the outdoor sparring grounds. He always brought my favorite cup of steaming hot apple cider, handing it to me with a flirty smile and complimented what I was wearing. Even if it was a ruddy old jumpsuit. Cassian was all charm and veiled interest, and I found myself pulled between the two. Cassian, Kaelric, Cassian, Kaelric. One seemed like he might want me in a world where the class system didn’t exist, and the other might want me in a world where I wasn’t human. Needless to say, those options weren’t ideal, but Cassian was sweet, and he’d been a huge help in getting me this far. He was smarter than he looked, quicker too, but he didn’t push me the way Kaelric did. He was too soft on me.
Ever since the second trial, it had become apparent to me that Cassian might be interested in me romantically. He flirted, he teased. But there was something careful behind his smile, a distance that was probably due to my being magicless. So in that way, neither guy truly wanted me.
Kaelric, mind you, stayed away like I was the fire that might burn him alive.
I hadn’t seen him shift into his wolf all week. Not once. But I felt him somehow, always watching mefrom the edges of the tree line. Keeping his distance. Guarding without guarding.
The third and final trial was looming. Another chance to prove I belonged here, and an even bigger chance to bring my family up out of the Dregs forever.
A chance to face Kaelric and pretend he hadn’t broken my heart.
Cassian tossed me a practice blade, the hilt warm from his palm. “You’re getting faster,” he said, circling me on the packed-sand sparring grounds. “Maybe even dangerous.”
