Reckless (The Powerless Trilogy, #2)

by Lauren Roberts

“Tell me, darling, do you think of me often?” His voice is a murmur, as if his lips were pressed against my ear. I shiver, knowing exactly what that feels like. If he knows I’m here then why hasn’t he— “Do I haunt your dreams, plague your thoughts, like you do mine?”

“It’s a good thing you’re not here,” he says softly, a tone I never thought I’d hear from him again. “Because I still haven’t found my courage.”

“She would have buried you if she weren’t so busy running from me, you know,”

“So the least I can do is bury you for her.”

here I am, hauling a man over my shoulder because of a girl who despises doling out death.

where there is a flame, there is always a shadow. She is my inevitable.

“You are welcome to speak so long as it’s to accept my offer.”

“You promised to be my undoing,” I murmur, lowering my head close enough to hear her sharp intake of breath. “So, prove it.”

“Prove it,” I repeat, voice quiet. “Hate me enough to make me want you.” I cup her jaw, feeling her eyes burning into mine. “Ruin me.”

Our mouths crash together.

“Go on, my Silver Savior,” he muses bitterly. “Be my undoing.”

“Slicing my leg open once wasn’t enough for you?” “Well,” I sigh, “apparently it wasn’t enough for you, considering you’re still trying to run away from me.”

“You know, I haven’t even bothered to learn your name, Soldier. That is how little I value your life.”

“So imagine,” he says casually, “what I would be more than happy to do to you if you ever lay another finger on her.”

“I’d like to knock your teeth in.” “Oh, but then I wouldn’t be able to smile in that way I know you like.”

“Don’t live to die. Die because you lived.”

“Lucky for you, my feet are freezing.”

“Sympathy doesn’t look good on you, Azer.” “Everything looks good on me, Gray.” I flash her a smile. “Don’t lie.”

“Oh, it’s you,” she says groggily. “I didn’t know who I was tied to. I should have hit you harder.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t go saying my name because you think it might be the last time you ever will.” He has the nerve to chuckle. “Your name seems like a good word to die with on my lips.” “Kai—” “I don’t regret it.”

“I don’t regret you, or what was between us. And I don’t regret kissing you on that roof. But I know I’ll regret what I have to do to you for the rest of my life.”

“The only mistake was not making it sooner.”

“the mistake was tasting you now that you likely won’t let me do it again.”

“Possessive, are we?” “I chained you to me. What do you think?”

“This lap is taken,” Paedyn says coolly,

“Jealousy looks good on you, Gray,”

I’m not jealous.” My gaze lingers on her lips before traveling down the length of her. “Then you just look good.”

“Am I distracting you?” I ask sweetly. “When are you not?”

“Haven’t braided any woman’s hair but yours,” I say softly.

“I learned how to braid because of her. She was weak, and doing her own hair was something she struggled with. So I learned to do it for her.

I’d endure every bit of training the king put me through because I knew she was waiting for me on the other side of it.”

when I looked at her, I saw the best parts of myself.”

“And she laughed. Plagues, despite it all, she always laughed. Her very essence was contagious.”

“I liked you much better when you were asleep,” I say sweetly. “Good to hear you liked me at all.”

“What I felt for you went against every order I’ve ever been given.”

“Your spirit is familiar. You remind me of what could have been. In another life, I think Ava would have grown up to be like you.”

“I wanted her to be formidable. Recklessly bold. Powerful despite ability.”

“You are much more than those things.” “You overestimate me.” “No. I just see you.”

“I’ve never cared enough to kiss someone else’s thumb,” he continues softly. “But my lips found yours that day.”

Her head is crushing my arm. And I fear I’d never move again if it meant she stayed beside me.

“That doesn’t mean you keep suffering just because you know you can.”

“You going to kiss me, Gray, or just continue admiring what you see?”

Still contemplating drowning you, actually.” My voice is breathy, my own fingers wandering over the curve of his jaw. “Oh, darling, I already am.” His lips inch closer to mine, teasing me. “And I’m begging you to let me breathe you in.”

“I thought you never begged?” “I’m getting used to it whe...

“Let me swim for the both of us.”

“You cannot be nothing when you are everything to someone else.”

Her parents didn’t want to deal with hiding a child. And, damn, are they missing out on her.

She’s got this fire about her. This quickness.

never want her to feel anything...

“Gray. When I look at you, I see a strength that no Elite possesses—and it called to me long before I ever discovered what you were or were not.”