I don’t know what time it is, but my body physically complains with each laborious step up the mountain of stairs. Myles takes my hand and pulls me up the last few steps. As we enter the room, he spins me around, placing my arms around his neck, and rests his around my waist. We slow dance to the utter silence of the night, each step matching the drumming of our hearts.
“I think we should stay here forever,” I say.
“Here? Above the shop? No, I think we can do better than that.”
I laugh. “Not here.” I gesture around the room. “Here.” I point to him.
His forehead rests against my own. His fingers slide up my spine, and I gently stroke the nape of his neck.
“That’s the plan.”
Blowing the steam from my coffee, I snuggle into the cosy armchair underneath the window. Outside, birds chirp a harmonious song, mirroring my sentiments with each graceful note.
Yesterday was difficult, to say the least.
My head is still reeling from all the new information. Magic? I suck in my bottom lip, visualising the luminescent glow whirling up my arm, the taste of the freshest strawberries I have ever found.
Taking in the room, I spy pieces of parchment paper messily tucked in a drawer of the table beside me. Looking over my shoulder at Myles, making sure he is still sound asleep, I sneak a glance at the pages. Drawings.
Many, many drawings of me.
My face, my eyes, my marking. Sketches of a small cottage on the side of the river under the willow tree.
They’re amazing.
“What are you looking at, nosey?”
I jump guiltily, stuffing the papers back into the drawer. Myles comes up behind me; taking my coffee, he pulls the papers out and hands them to me again. His eyebrows raise as I’m caught taking in his messy morning hair and his slightly stubbled jaw.
“You’re staring at me like I’m a piece of meat.”
“Fine A-grade too.” I smirk. Myles laughs, his cheeks flushing a light shade of pink.
I hold up the pages with a questioning look.
“I wasn’t hiding them,” he says as he sinks into the couch. “I threw them into the drawer after our argument, not wanting to see your face.” Myles’ lips quirk up at the side for a moment.
Changing the subject from our little spat, I say, “They’re great. I didn’t know you could draw?”
Myles shrugs but before he can answer, a commotion outside snags our attention. Folk yell and roar over the top of each other. Myles rushes to open the door for a look, I try to squeeze beside him to see, but Myles pulls me back.
“Guards.”
Chapter Nine
Andi
My heart hammers in my chest. “Guards? Why? What could they want?” I ask, knowing full well Myles doesn’t have the answer.
“I don’t know,” Myles softly says beside my ear, “they look like Zury guards.”
“Why are Adrian’s guards here? What if they’re here for me?” All scenarios run through my head, each ending in me getting captured.
“We don’t know they’re here for you. How would he even know about you? They’re probably just passing through on their way back to Zury, causing their usual chaos.”
There’s a slight tremble in his voice, we both know it can’t be a coincidence—my magic appearing, the men in the woods, now the guards. But I don’t understand how they would know I was here.
The uproar in town sends cold shivers down my spine, like droplets dripping down an icicle.
