He smiled. “Slower than I am.”
Hmph. I wanted to be annoyed by that, but it wasn’t like he was wrong. Iwasslower than him. Stupid mortal legs.
“Try it,” he said, nodding toward the tankard. With a timid sip, I tasted the liquid. The smooth tartness of grapes rolled across my tongue, spiced with cinnamon.
“It’s nice,” I said. “How big is Inishfall? It doesn’t seem like the kind of place where grapes would grow that easily.”
“This wine is not from Inishfall,” he said quietly. “It’s from my home.”
Eyes wide, I glanced back at the bottles. That would make themhundredsof years old. “How many bottles did you manage to bring with you?”
“About twenty or so.”
I counted the bottles. There were seventeen of them left. My heart battered my ribcage as the implication sank in. In his five hundred years spent stuck on this island, he’d saved all of these bottles. He’d only opened two of them, until now.
“Yuto,” I whispered, a strange sense of delirious anticipation swirling through my belly. “You shouldn’t have opened one of your bottles for me. You’ve save them for so long. I—”
“Shh.” He placed a gloved finger on my lips. The steel was cold to the touch. “I wanted to share this with you, Aradia. I’m about to tell you something about myself that only the others know.”
Swallowing hard, I nodded. I had no idea what to expect. From the way he spoke, it must be something terrible. Was it the reason why he’d been sent here? Did it have anything to do with whyIwas stuck here, too?
Sighing, he dropped his hand to his side. His face was so grave; his eyes were so dark. Concern rose up inside of me. At some point, I had come to care for this dragonlord, and his uncertainty almost scared me.
“What is it, Yuto?” I pressed my palm against his breastplate, taking comfort in the steady strength of him.
He glanced down at where my hand touched his chest. “You might not want to touch me when you know what it is that plagues me.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Yuto stepped back, and my hand fell away. Slowly, he pulled at his gloved right hand with the other, dragging the steel off his skin. I braced myself, my heart frozen in my chest. When he finally pulled the glove away, he held up a very normal looking hand. The skin was a bit paler than the rest of him—likely from lack of sun. Other than that, nothing was amiss.
“Stay back,” he warned me as I moved a step closer to him. “Donotcome near me when my gloves are off.”
He strode over to his desk, picked up a piece of parchment with his left hand, and then held it up to his right. His fingers skimmed the paper, and then suddenly, it burst into flames. A terrifying heat rushed toward me. Pressing my heart to my chest, I stumbled back. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The paper transformed into ashes in scarcely a moment, the charred remains drifting to the floor.
Yuto’s jaw flickered as he snatched his glove and shoved it back over his fingers. He didn’t look at me. Somehow, I knew why. I could read the truth of his heart, even if he didn’t speak it out loud. He thought I would be scared of him.
“Well, there it is,” he said gruffly. “The full truth of Yuto Cirillo, the Lord Master of Pira. Although, I suppose the truth is that I am the former Lord Master now. My enemy stole my land from me. My crown, my throne, my everything. I’m a man cursed, not only to a thousand years in this realm but a thousand years of deadly touch. Anything my fingers come into contact with turns to flames. Anything except for these gloves.”
“It’s part of your punishment?” I whispered.
He nodded, raising his tortured eyes to meet mine. “But it is not apunishment, Aradia. It was a way to get me gone so that another could take my place.”
“And the touch part of it?”
“A way to make certain I remained miserable here,” he said. “I can never forget, not when I’m forced to wear these gloves every minute of every day. Have you ever realized how much you use your hands?”
My heart ached for him. No wonder he had formed such a hard shell around his heart. “Who did this to you?”
He closed his eyes. “Her name was Lysandra. For a very long time, she was one of my closest allies. She knew me better than almost anyone else. In the end, she used that knowledge against me. Exploited weaknesses that only she knew.”
“Well, then we’re just going to have to make sure that you get back to Pira as soon as possible. You have to take back your homeland, Yuto.”
He gave me a wan smile. “If only it were that easy.”
“Isn’t it?” I strode toward him, determination solidifying the strength in my bones. “I’ll take you back through that portal.”
“Aradia.” He took ahold of my hands, and then froze, worry flickering in his eyes. But I smiled and weaved my fingers through his, hoping he would see that I wasn’t afraid of his touch. At one point, I would have been, but not now. I wasn’t scared that he would burn me. “Your words are music to my ears, and I cannot thank you enough for your offer, knowing how much you do not want to return to your realm. But…”
