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Taking a deep breath, I lift my gaze to meet his. Oh, and I wish I hadn’t. His eyes are mesmerizing, like melted steel, morning fog. They cut through me as though he is unafraid to see every part of me. His gaze feels right, familiar. And when his eyes lock with mine, I wonder why I ever bother looking at anyone else.
“Hmm. Do you want to know what I think?” He tugs on my hands, pulling me closer. “I think you’re avoiding dancing with me because you can’t handle being so close.”
I’ve never been looked at like it’s a privilege to be in my presence, an honor to hold my gaze, a gift to get a glimpse of me. Not until I met him. His mask slips, splinters, shatters, leaving only a boy beholding a girl like she is worthy of his wanting.
“What’s in it for me?” Then he slings an arm around my waist, tugging me toward him. Wrong move. My fingers wrap around the handle of my dagger, feeling the cold steel I’m about to— “Careful, she’ll press that blade to your throat. I would know.” I still, turning my head slightly to see Kai standing several feet away, hands casually tucked into his pockets. “Now let her go and open the door.” His voice is like the steel of my dagger, cold and sharp.
Then the drizzle turns into a downpour. Rain is falling rapidly while I’m smiling stupidly. My head feels clearer than it has in days as cool water coats my skin, my dress, my hair. I spin in place, the skirts of my gown swishing around my ankles, feeling like an idiot and absolutely loving it.
CLASSIC SET THE SCENE LAUREN LMAO
“I don’t know that I ever lived before laying eyes on the likes of you.”
bye
He shrugs, a smile still spread across his face. “I just love the sound of my name coming from your lips.” I clear my throat, which has suddenly become far too dry. “Well, Kai isn’t your real name, now, is it?” He’s silent, nothing but a smile and a sudden intensity in his eyes, daring me to say his full name. Wanting me to say his name. And apparently, I want to say it too because when I open my mouth, one word falls out. “Malakai.” His eyes flutter shut; his head falls back, allowing the rain full access to his face. The smile on his lips and the column of his neck make me swallow.
“Only you can make my name sound worth saying.”
“As adorable as you looked blinking up at me in the rain, I want you to see me clearly when I tell you this.” There goes that stupid flutter in my chest. “I meant what I said. I can’t take my eyes off you. I can’t take my mind off you.”
“Paedyn.” I still. I shiver. He says my name like it’s sacred, like it’s an oath he’s swearing.
My eyes slowly meet his, confused by his question. “What do you want to call me?” “I want to call you mine.”
“God, you’re stunning.” Rough fingers have never felt so gentle against my skin as he brushes a strand of wet hair out of my eyes. “But so damn stubborn.” I can’t do this anymore. I can’t not give in to the temptation that is him. I’m suddenly unable to think of a single reason why I’m fighting this, why I shouldn’t close the gap between us right now. I want to— His lips meet mine. Barely. It’s the whisper of a kiss, a promise of passion. And yet, I nearly melt at the contact. His hand is cupping my face, thumb stroking my cheekbone and then— Nothing. He pulls back.
“If I kiss you—really kiss you, like how I’ve wanted to, how I’ve waited to—should I expect a dagger at my throat?” His voice is rough, his gaze greedy. And then I reach up slowly and flick the tip of his nose. This time, I do take a moment to memorize the smile he gives me. “I guess you’ll have to kiss me to find out.”
She’s so beautiful, I can hardly believe it, hardly breathe. Her soul is stunning. Her very being is bright and bold and so unbelievably better than I am.
My eyes are pinned on Paedyn, my voice deceptively calm as I say, “I hope whatever you have to say is worth losing your tongue over for interrupting us.”
They broke her fingers. They are bent at odd angles, bleeding, bruised. Those small and slender hands are mangled, a mockery of what they once were, of what they could do. Before death, the thing that made her feel most alive was taken from her. Her sewing hands. Her talented fingers. Broken. Then they broke her.
Because when his gaze pierces mine, I don’t see him. I see his father. The future king knows this was my doing. He knows because he showed me that tunnel and its key. He knows because he trusted me with that information. Kitt knows that I betrayed him. He holds my gaze, looking so hurt, so horrified, so full of hatred. His eyes are so cold that I nearly shiver under his stare. The boy glaring down at me is devoid of every bit of warmth, every bit of charm I’ve come to know. He is cold. He is callous. He is like this because of me. He is his father. I
“I love you.” And then I’m running. Coward. Just like with Father. The symmetry in their deaths is sickening. Both run through in the chest. Both bleeding out before me. Both left lying on the ground, left to rot without a burial. Both deaths ending in me running.
“You killed her.” He huffs as if this amuses him. “Who, your little friend?” His eyes flash, betraying the anger he’s kept buried. “No. You killed her. I warned you about the Trials. I warned you to stay away from my sons. You’ve made my kingdom look weak. You’ve made my heirs look weak.”
“Ordinaries are a weak excuse for life. An embarrassment,” he growls. “They should have died with the Plague but instead they plague us. I’ve planned for this day a long time, waiting until I could rid myself of this Resistance. And I suppose I have you to thank for their downfall.” His smile is twisted, and my head is pounding as I try to understand what he’s saying. “Only the strongest, the most powerful, will prevail.” He leans down slightly, his cold gaze boring into mine as he says, “It’s survival of the fittest, and the fittest are the Elites.”
“I’m almost impressed that this pathetic little heart of yours is still beating. What, with all the betrayal, heartbreak, and near-death experiences you’ve somehow endured as an Ordinary.” “Everything I’ve endured was because of you,” I snarl, lifting my head off the ground despite how heavy it feels. “Hmm.” He sounds almost thoughtful. “Very true.”
I don’t know how much time has passed when he finally lifts the sword to admire his handiwork. “There.” Casual. He sounds so casual, so cruel. “Something to remember me by in the afterlife.”
“Let’s just say that your first encounter with a prince wasn’t when you saved Kai in the alley.” No. No. “It was when he killed your father.” The world spins around me, threatening to throw me to the ground.
“His first kill, too.” The king continues with a bloody, reminiscent smile. “It was the first mission I sent him on, and I think the boy may have even cried after.
And yet, his knife missed me. Kai doesn’t miss. Not unless he wants to. “What have you done to me?” His words are almost lost in the storm, but they chill me to the bone more than the streaming rain ever could.
Kai’s voice trembles like his hands. “I should bury this blade in your throat.” And he could easily do it too. I have no weapons, no will, no energy to try to stop him. My voice sounds as ragged as I feel. “Then do it.” He’s shaking his head at me, looking just as disgusted with himself as he is with me. “I will. I should.”
“Then why can’t I do it?” Now he’s staring at the weapon in his hand, at the weapon he could easily take my life with. “Why is it that when it comes to you, I’m suddenly a coward? Why is it that when it comes to you, I suddenly care? Why is it that I can’t throw this damn knife at my father’s killer!?”
I school my features into neutrality. “Find her.” And there goes Kai’s mask. It slips, flooding his face with feelings that flit by too fast for me to interpret. But I’m not blind. I saw the way she affected him.
