8. Liora #3
She immediately blamed the situation, the ridiculous spectacle of it all, the lingering adrenaline from being thrown into this whole marriage mess.
It had to be that. Still, when they separated, and she looked at him again, she had the uncomfortable realization that the kiss hadn’t felt fake at all—and that bothered her far more than it should have.
Click, click.
“Got it!” the photographer called happily. “Perfect. Let’s move to the next setup!”
They pulled apart, and for a brief moment, they just looked at each other.
Liora became acutely aware of her breathing that felt too quick and too shallow, and his, deeper, slower, but just as unsteady beneath the surface. The rhythm didn’t quite match, her chest, rising a fraction faster, like her body hadn’t realized the moment was over. Or maybe it hadn’t been.
His gaze held hers, close enough that she could still feel the ghost of him, his warmth, the pressure of his hand and the echo of the kiss that had been meant for an audience but hadn’t felt like it.
She forced her breath steady, even as the air between them seemed to tighten with something unspoken.
Then Seraphelle was gesturing them forward. “This way.”
They followed her across the studio again to another elaborate scene, this one even lighter, with gray stone columns and glowing runic patterns along the floor. The cyclops pointed to two marks again. “Stand there.”
They slid into place.
The photographer adjusted the camera, frowned slightly, then lowered it. “Actually…we need a minute.” He waved to one of the assistants adjusting a lighting rig above them.
“Hold there.”
Liora exhaled slowly. “Well,” she muttered, “that wasn’t awkward at all.”
Maldenis glanced sideways at her. “You did fine.”
She gave him a suspicious look. “You enjoyed that way too much.”
He shrugged lightly. “You’re the one who said ‘here we go’ like we were about to jump off a cliff.”
A small laugh escaped her before she could stop it. Then she leaned slightly closer and murmured. “Just remember this is temporary.”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked toward the lighting crew, who were fixing the setup, then back at her. “Of course,” he said.
But something in his expression had shifted just a little.
While the crew fussed with the lights and someone argued quietly about the angle of a reflector, Liora stood on her mark and tried to look like a person who wasn’t trapped in a very public, very elaborate mistake.
For a moment, no one was paying attention to them. Just the hum of equipment and the murmur of voices. She glanced sideways at Maldenis. And, annoyingly, her mind drifted back to that moment outside her apartment, the memory she’d almost seen when he reached for her.
Just a flash. But strong enough that she’d had to shove it away. Stone. Shattered columns. Voices shouting. And the weight of a dozen elders staring at him like he’d done something unforgivable.
She shifted slightly, studying him now.
He still looked relaxed, casual even, as if the entire spectacle bored him. But she’d seen enough glimpses of people’s thoughts to recognize when someone was wearing armor.
“You ruined a bar,” she said quietly.
“That’s random.” Maldenis blinked at her.
“The one by an old ceremonial site,” she added.
His posture changed almost immediately. “You saw that.”
She lifted one shoulder. “Through my power.”
He studied her face for a moment, probably deciding how much to say. Then he exhaled through his nose. “There was an incident.”
“So, what happened?” she folded her arms loosely.
“I was younger.”
“How much younger?”
“Twenty.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Nine years ago,” he added dryly, “that’s basically reckless youth.”
She waited for him to tell her more.
“There was a bar.” He glanced toward the lighting crew as if checking whether anyone was listening. “Built right next to one of the older ceremonial grounds.”
“That sounds like a bad idea already.”
“It was.”
“And?”
He shrugged faintly. “I may have started an argument.”
“With who?”
“Several basilisks.”
“Of course you did.”
His mouth twitched. “It escalated.”
“I’m shocked.”
“Very funny.” He rubbed the back of his neck slightly.
“How big?”
“The bar didn’t survive.”
She stared at him. “You destroyed an entire bar?”
“It was structurally weak.”
“And the ceremonial site?”
His expression flattened slightly. “Part of the outer stonework collapsed.”
“Oh.” Now she understood the weight behind that memory.
“Yeah,” he said.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“The leaders gave me leniency,” he added more quietly.
“Why?” She tilted her head.
Maldenis gave a small, humorless smile. “Because my family is…important.”
She thought about the flash she’d seen of the elders. The disappointment. The pressure. “And now?” she asked.
His gaze shifted briefly toward Seraphelle across the room, and then back to the lighting rigs above them. “I don’t get a second chance.”
The words were simple. Matter-of-fact. But something about the way he said them made her chest tighten a little.
She thought again of their meeting with the circle of elders, their cold, measuring stares, the weight of their judgment pressing down on him like stone. They hadn’t spoken to him like family. More like a problem they were tolerating.
She shifted slightly closer to him. “I hope I didn’t mess things up with what I said,” she murmured.
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Don’t worry about it.”
She looked up at him.
“You’re a mate watching out for hers,” he said with an easy shrug. “If anything, you probably earned a few respect points for that.”
They held each other’s gaze a moment longer than necessary, something unspoken passing between them. She noticed his eyes flick down to her mouth, and for a heartbeat, neither of them moved, close enough that another kiss would have been the easiest thing in the world.
“Alright!” Across the set, the cyclops clapped his massive hands. “We’re ready!”
Liora and Maldenis both straightened automatically. But just before the photographer lifted the camera, Liora leaned a little closer and murmured. “Well.”
Maldenis glanced down at her.
“If destroying things was your rebellious phase,” she said, “we should probably keep you away from the cake at the party.”
For a second, he just stared at her, then a quiet laugh slipped out.
And a camera flashed.