Chapter 24 #2
Kressa brushes a hand down my hair and lets it settle on the small of my back. A low tune plays, and she takes my hand, leading me into the steps. We revolve around the floor in silence, nothing but the music lulling me out of reality.
Kressa dips her head. “If he touches you like that again, I’ll kill him.”
My jaw sets into granite. “No.”
“No?”
A noblewoman bumps into me, and her sleeve slips off her shoulder, wine sloshing over the rim of her glass. Her lips tip into a sorry smile.
I don’t return it.
Has she bet on me? Did she cheer when the kraken pulled me into the lake?
She rakes her gaze over my dress, the plunging neckline.
“I could dance with you next, if you’d like a better look,” I coo.
She grimaces, and as she turns, I slip the diamond bracelet from her wrist.
I press myself against Kressa and rest my hand on her waist, bracelet pinned between my thumb and palm. I slide it down her body, over her hip, and dip my hand into her pocket.
She inhales a sharp breath, fingertips digging into my waist.
A smirk creeps over my face. If they turn my body into a weapon, it’ll be mine to wield.
I tilt my chin and, against the curve of her neck, whisper, “No, because he’s mine to kill.”
Depositing the bracelet, I slide my hand out of her pocket and trail my fingers up the front of her shirt. I toy with the buttons until I reach the top.
She swallows and folds her hand over mine. “We should go before Caelus orders you back to him.”
“Why? Is he watching us?”
She sneaks a glance over my shoulder and nods.
My lip quirks. “He put me in this dress for a reason, right?”
I push Kressa back until she’s flush against a marble column. Stars wink at me from the open balcony, and from the cloud overhead, thunder rumbles.
“What are you doing?” she says, heart thundering under my hand.
I snake my hand to the nape of her neck, weaving her hair between my fingers. “He wants me to seduce you for information? Fine. But don’t worry. Like Isolde, he has nothing to worry about, right?”
“Right,” she says through gritted teeth.
Her chest heaves against mine, hands light against the swell of my waist. Like she can’t trust herself to touch me.
I float my lips over the curve of her neck. “Be a good girl and play along.”
She shudders, and I press my mouth to her neck. Once. Twice. Each of my nerve endings fire in succession, and warmth pools low in my stomach.
I lift my head and lock eyes with her for a moment, or an eternity. Perhaps entire worlds are made in this short span of time. Or maybe they end.
I tighten my hold on her waist, and she wets her lips, dragging the lower one through her teeth. She doesn’t inhale a single breath, hands nothing but a whisper against my skin.
I pull her mouth to mine.
The world freezes—coming to a screeching halt.
Something snaps in my chest, and churning waves break free.
My power.
I gasp and pull away, and that wonderful, delicious warmth disappears the moment my lips leave hers. As if dumped through a sieve.
She searches my face. “Did you feel that?”
“Stop talking.”
I arch into her and crash our lips together. My power floods back into my body, seeping through my bones and trickling between the small, parched crevices.
A moan tumbles from my mouth, and I press myself closer, desperate for more. My power swells, singing a sweet tune I haven’t heard in far too long. Her lips meld against mine, soft and assessing.
Her arm clamps around my waist, and she tugs me flush against her. Her other hand tilts my head back, deepening the kiss.
A fire lights inside me.
Her tongue teases my lips in request, and I open them enough for her tongue to brush over mine. Flames spread over my body—licking, smoldering. Her hand travels lower, against the bare skin at the curve of my hip.
A throat clears, but I’m too drunk on my power—on Kressa—to care. A deep rumble comes from her, and her grip on me tightens, her kisses frantic. Like she’d rather drown in me than ever break away.
“Briar,” that voice says. Harsher this time.
A hand touches my shoulder, and I jerk back. My power silences and retreats from my veins as if it was never there.
“Thea?”
She points out the balcony, where far beyond Sarenia, the sea rages. Whitecaps crash against ships, waves cresting over the levees.
Aftershocks of my power.
Kressa grabs my elbow. Her face is stone, every hint of desire gone. “Congratulations. Your king didn’t even see your stunt.”
Caelus’s drink tilts at a precarious angle between his fingers, and his head rests on the arm of the settee, his eyes shut.
Is that all this was to Kressa? A stunt?
My gaze trails back to her, and a thousand questions hang off the tip of my tongue. Ones I can’t ask until I have her alone.
“We’re going to the dungeons. Now,” she says, guiding me toward the open doorway.
I brush my fingertips over my lips. The absence of my power is like a lost lover—a hand extending to me, just out of reach.
It’s tethered deep down. Caged. But there.
I sneak a glance at Kressa.
She awoke it.