Page 29 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

“Then why?” I demand. “If you want me to help you, at least give me a reason.”

Her mouth tightens, and I have to fight the urge to look at the petal soft rouge color of her lips. Instead, I study the barrage of emotions that flit across her face. She’s not an easy one to read, that’s for sure. Just as soon as she has an emotion—whether it be confusion, sadness, or irritation—it’s there and gone. As if she’s feeling them only briefly before shoving them back into their respective boxes. As if she can’t allow herself to feel too much.

I consider her deeper than before at that thought. How much has a human from the Hinterlands been through to be so far away from her homeland, to have left that forsaken place to arrive here on the steps of the Mortal Gods Academy of Riviere?

Being so curious about one insignificant little human has already proven to be detrimental to my brothers. Theos wants her more and more. Though he doesn’t think I know it, I’m well aware that he snuck out to see her during her recovery. The way he watches her as we walk the halls when classes are in session makes it obvious he’s growing far too possessive. Kalix, too, for that matter, and even worse than Theos, if Kalix gets his hands on this girl … well, I’ve never seen one make it out alive.

A beauty like hers doesn’t deserve to be buried in a shallow grave, and all too often, that’s exactly the end for young innocents. My one saving grace concerning Kiera Nezerac is that I know damn well she is no innocent.

“I need to see my brother,” she finally says, ending my internal monologue after what feels like a lifetime.

I arch a brow. “That’s why you want to risk your life and all the lives of Terra in the Academy?” To say I’m shocked would be an understatement. I almost expected something … more from her, and not this disappointment.

Kiera’s sharp gaze lands on mine and remains there for a long beat before she speaks again. “I’m not going to pretend to understand the relationship you have with your brothers, Ruen Darkhaven,” she says, causing me to stiffen at the recalcitrant tone she slings my way. “What I do know—what I’ve gathered from watching the three of you, following you around, seeing how you interact with not just each other but with every other person inside this Academy—I don’t think it’s wrong to assume that you would die for them.”

Even if it’s not a secret she’s revealing to me, her words are like daggers being thrown into my heart. I almost wince. She steps closer, unafraid, head cocked back as she glares up at me and our bodies collide. I hold my breath, refusing to inhale her intoxicating scent again for fear it’ll drive me back to that brink of insanity that has me picturing what it would be like to rip her clothes from her body, turn her around, shove her head against the books, and slide my cock into her tight, warm, waiting hole.

“You tossed me to the proverbial wolves for the sake of your brothers,” she continues. “You wanted to get rid of me to protect them.” She rolls her eyes and whether she realizes it or not, it’s certainly not the first time I’ve caught her doing that. It’s strange considering I’ve never met another human with the same audacity. She has virtually no barriers around that attitude of hers, only when it seems to serve whatever silent purpose she has for being here.

Money, Theos had told me. A part of me hopes that isn’t true though. As easy as it would be for her to be motivated by nothing more than cold hard denza, I think this woman is far more complicated than that.

“The three of you might have the same God parent, but it’s obvious that you had different mortal ones,” she states. “So, you’re only half-brothers—and yet…” She taps a finger to her lower lip, drawing my eyes downward again before I can catch myself.

Fuck. I rip my eyes back up and she smiles at me knowingly. “Get. On. With. It.” Each word is cut out from my tongue, sharp and deadly.

“What I'm trying to say,” she finally concedes, dropping that tempting finger from her mouth to jab it into my chest, “is that you are not the only one who would do anything to protect the people you care about. I have responsibilities outside this damned Academy and I intend to make sure my brother knows about what’s going on.”

At her words, I close my eyes and inhale a long, steadying breath through my nose and exhale it out through my mouth. I do it a second time for good measure waiting until there’s nothing left in my lungs before I open my eyes and meet her gaze for what feels like the hundredth time.

“Fine.” The word is a concession and a death knell. She doesn’t seem to truly understand the severity of her punishment and what will happen if we’re caught so I have to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. When her face brightens and she nods, taking a step back from me and turning to slip beneath the arm I still have locked on to the shelves, I stop her.

I grip her hip and push her back into the books, coming closer as she jerks at my touch. I flash my teeth at her—the facsimile of a smile as threatening as I can make it. “But there are rules to this favor,” I tell her.

Her brow furrows. “I don’t think you know what the definition of a favor is,” she snaps. “They’re not supposed to have strings.”

I chuckle, the sound low and deep as it vibrates from my chest to hers. She shudders at the sensation and I have to hollow out my stomach and turn my thoughts to other things—such as that Second Tier vomiting in Narelle’s History class—to keep my cock from reacting to the feeling of her body shivering against mine. It would be so damn easy to lean down and press my mouth to hers, to reach up and cup the breasts that are peeking out from beneath her tunic. I shove those thoughts back.

“Plenty of favors have strings, Kiera,” I say, refocusing. “This one is only different in that the strings cannot be cut.”

She glares at me and just as her mouth opens, I’m sure, to unleash a thinly veiled insult in my direction, I reach up with my free hand and press my fingers over her lips. “Take it or leave it,” I tell her. “This will be your only chance. If I walk out of here without your agreement to my stipulations then you will not leave this Academy if it means I have to chain you to my bed and follow you around every single second of every day.”

Her brows shoot up towards her hairline, and just because she knows what it’ll do—I’m sure she must have some knowledge of what her proximity does to me, as hard as I’ve tried I’ve found it difficult to hide from her—she licks her lips. That pink tongue flashes out and touches the pads of my fingers, leaving a wet trail in their wake before they’re gone again.

So much for keeping my cock in check. The damn thing springs to life within my trousers, swelling under the fabric until it becomes constraining and uncomfortable. My jaw tightens as I tear my fingers from her mouth and growl at her.

“Do we have a deal?”

Those glittering eyes of hers are twin pools of danger, enticing me deeper until I’m sure she means to drown me in them. Her lips curve into a cat-like smile. “Fine,” she says repeating my earlier acquiescence. “We have a deal.”

Gods help me.

Chapter 18

Kiera

Bird wings outside my bedroom window wake me the next morning and before I’m even fully cognizant, I’m up and out of bed. I rip open the glass frame and the familiar sight of Regis’ messenger bird greets me with fluttering black wings. A breath shudders out of my chest as I spot the small, pale yellowed parchment scroll tied right above the bird’s clawed foot.

The creature hooks its small feet onto the grate outside the window and I slip my fingers between the openings, untying the leather band before snagging the scroll and dragging it inside with me. The sun hasn’t yet risen in the East, but the effects of the coming day have already begun to brighten the sky so I quickly unroll the message and read its contents.

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