25 #2
Part of Marisol had hoped that kissing him would be enough to rid her of this annoying attraction, but she had underestimated her powerful reaction to him.
To his smiles and his hands and his scent.
She hadn’t planned for things to go this far.
She hadn’t planned to kiss him at all before she killed him.
But Teo Castellan had laid waste to her inhibitions, and now here he was, making her want .
It couldn’t last, and yet she didn’t want it to end.
He sucked in a sharp breath and then his tongue dipped between her parted lips. The sound she made into his mouth was embarrassingly close to a whimper.
But there was something off about the way he angled his head, the way he sank against her, the way he coaxed her into a deeper kiss that had her toes curling in her shoes.
He didn’t kiss her like someone who was proficient in kissing; he kissed her like someone who never wanted to stop—earnest and natural and sloppy and eager.
Somehow, that just made it better.
Because she was kissing him the same way.
Her hands trailed down from his hair, down the back of his neck, over the ridges of his jacket to his waist, and then back up again, beneath it.
She could feel the warmth of his skin through the thin fabric of his shirt, a heady sensation.
His grip tightened and then loosened, as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to pull her closer or push her away.
She clearly wasn’t the only one who liked playing with fire.
“Hey, you two. Go back to the dining room. You can’t do that here!”
Marisol jerked back from the kiss, barely remembering to look sheepish and harmless. Two reapers stood in front of the door, one looking anywhere but at the two of them and the other with folded arms and a judgmental stare. And behind them—
“Bas,” Teo panted. “I—”
Bas turned and disappeared into the hallway. Teo took a step forward almost involuntarily, a wrinkle appearing between his eyebrows. Her lip stain was a smear of uneven color across his mouth.
“Get out of the garden so we can lock up,” the judgmental reaper snapped. “This isn’t a public area.”
“Then why was it unlocked?” Marisol asked innocently. The shyer witch seemed to shrink at the question. “Maybe we can all agree that this never happened?”
“Please,” the witch mumbled. “Magister Baylin can be very strict.”
Back in the hall, they watched the two witches lock the door to the courtyard and accepted their kind offer to walk them back to the dining room door.
Teo looked as if the last thing he wanted to do was go inside, which struck Marisol as darkly hilarious.
Once the witches were gone, she nudged him with her shoulder.
“I thought you said that you and Bas weren’t together.”
“We’re not. But that doesn’t mean—I just don’t usually do that sort of thing in front of him, is all.” Teo had rubbed his face clean, but the look he shot her was a soft thing, disarming and real. “And that wasn’t how I wanted to kiss you for the first time.”
Marisol cleared her throat, ignoring the heat in her cheeks. “I think Bas will understand, if you explain it to him.”
“There’s nothing to explain. I’ve wanted to kiss you. You know I have.”
“I know you said that, yes.”
On the other side of the door, she could hear the stilted sounds of Bas and Noelia attempting to make conversation. Once again, if she hadn’t been aware that they knew each other, she would have thought they were strangers who only had her in common. Even without an audience, they were performing.
Not that she could judge them. There was no audience in this corridor, and yet she was performing, too.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said carefully, her eyes on the door instead of the boy beside her. “At least not right now. We need to focus on surviving the Coronet, and that would be easier without any… distractions.”
“Do I distract you?” The prince sounded delighted. “That’s more than I expected.”
“I think you should raise your standards, my lord. Besides, it’s your distractions I’m worried about. You could have ruined everything tonight.”
All the joy leaked out of his expression until that haunted look returned.
“Yes. I’m sorry.” The air thickened with the weight of words unsaid.
Marisol remained quiet, making no move to reenter the dining room and waiting, waiting, waiting.
Until finally: “Do you ever get tired of feeling like a pawn? Do you ever need to control something , even if you haven’t thought it through? ”
Marisol wanted to laugh. What an odd thing for them to have in common. “You’re not a pawn, Teo. This plan couldn’t succeed without you.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Teo said with a sad smile, “but it’s nice of you to say.
” Before she could reply to that, he threw open the dining room door, the mask of the charming prince back in place.
“Sorry, sorry.” He reached to take her hand and tugged her forward.
“Sometimes, I just need some time alone with the love of my life.”
Marisol ducked her head, pretending to blush.
She saw Noelia’s shoulders relax, saw her wink, saw her eyes light up with the desire to hear more later.
But her attention inevitably drifted to Bas, who wasn’t acknowledging either of them.
Their plates were empty, but their goblets were full.
Bas downed the rest of his and remained silent as she and Teo found their seats.
Something like guilt curled in her stomach, but she ignored it.
She wanted to upset him. She wanted to take everything from him.
This was part of her revenge.
But somehow it felt as if she were the one who was losing.