Page 55 of Winterfall Destiny

"Your response still worries me," says Tobias. "Don't shut down the way you did before."

"This is different to me worrying Andrei might die," I say and turn to him. "I'm quiet because I need time to process what you've told me."

With a sigh, Tobias draws me into his arms and holds me tight, kissing the top of my head. "If you need me, I'm here."

"I know. And I agree—we'll find another way." I turn my head, cheek still pressed to Tobias's chest. "One that will break her influence on you too, Andrei."

Andrei shrugs, such a small gesture in response to the enormity. Andrei's serious. If it were possible, he'd help trap the First and suffer the consequences for himself.

21

MAEVE

Although I've accepted that I need to take care around this new Andrei, I can't keep away from him any longer. We've rarely spent time alone since sitting on the roof at dawn. Is the guy who once couldn't spend a day without kissing or touching me now following the sensible path and withholding? Or has part of Andrei's change stopped him from physically wanting me?

Andrei took the attic room on the top floor, joking that's always his place, whereas I took a bedroom on the middle floor. This requires slow sneaking from my room towards Andrei's, freezing each time a floorboard groans beneath my feet, although I'm unlikely to disturb anybody. Old houses come alive with creaks from wood or sounds inside pipes and everybody's used to that after our time at the Winterfall house.

I ache to return to the place I now see as home—our home. We're safest there, the residual magic intensified by the energy Jamie and I brought with us when we moved to the estate. Nobody ever invaded, apart from the First who could go anywhere if not trapped. Here, despite the runes, I'm exposed, surrounded by people living nearby, some who could be watching. Waiting. A Dominion member already broke in; how many more lurk nearby?

I reach Andrei's room and the moment I open the door; a flashback hits. He's lying beneath a blanket on his back, totally still in a dark room. Only this time, the heartbeat I could only hear faintly back then thrums louder in my ears. Now, Andrei's heart always beats in my mind, like the creature's did when trapped beneath the academy. This gave me comfort during the nightmare days—Andrei was alive.

Tempted as I am to creep into bed with Andrei, I quietly close the door and sit on the edge of the bed. "Andrei," I whisper and nudge him.

He murmurs in his sleep and shifts, placing an arm above his head on the pillow, the blanket slipping. The raven tattoo shows across his toned chest, and I almost lose my resolve. We've kissed and touched, hugged over and over, but I haven't really reconnected with the guy I love and thought I'd lost.

I kneel on the floor by the bed then lean down to place my lips on his, another horrible flashback to when he didn't move.

"Maeve?" he whispers.

"Who else would it be? Unless you're friendlier with the guys now," I tease.

Andrei pulls a face at me and draws back the blanket, inviting me in. He's inviting, and although Andrei doesn't sleep naked, dressed in a pair of boxers, the dips and planes of his muscular body send my pulse haywire.

I shake my head and he sits, propping himself on his elbows. "Are you frightened of me?"

"No. Not at all," I say and kneel up to kiss him softly on the lips, revisiting the urge to slide hands into Andrei's hair and really kiss him. "I'm confused why you stay away from me, Andrei."

He regards me silently, gaze moving to where my strappy PJ top reveals more skin than when I'm dressed. "I miss you," he says quietly. "I love you."

"And I love you. We've told each other this so many times the last few days." I stroke his cheek. "But I'm worried that you're avoiding time alone with me."

Andrei crawls from the bed and kneels beside me on the floor, face to face as he gently holds my cheeks. "I've always struggled with the intensity around us, but now I've moved from 'I can't breathe around you' to 'I'm drowning'. Maeve, remember how everything intensified after Gabriella fed me the First's blood? That's nothing compared to now." I swallow as his mouth brushes mine. "You've no idea how I've struggled with wanting to come to you before now. To prove I'm still your Andrei; still the one who makes fucking dumb decisions and hurts you."

"Andrei," I say and put my fingers on his lips. "The past. We move on."

His fingers tremble as he sits back and pushes his fringe to one side.

He's beautiful. Hemia beautiful, but more now, as if the First's blood shaped Andrei into perfection. To me, he was perfection. I'd explored every inch of him, grown familiar with the tautly muscular body, the raw power hidden inside his lithe frame. Andrei had the same force in his muscles as Ash, but without the size.

Now everything's magnified for us both.

I clamber onto Andrei and straddle his lap, both hands in his hair as I pull him into a kiss. A kiss we've shared so many times in the past, the one unleashed when we've missed our time alone. The type of kiss I'd never give Andrei if other people were around.

He groans and wraps an arm around my waist, a hand holding my cheek. I taste him properly, smell that this is my Andrei—the slight sweetness behind the soap that reminds me of every time we're close like this.

"Maeve, stop," he breathes out, moving his head back.

"No gum?" I tease.

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