Page 123 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

“Mistake?” Kellen’s voice broke. “It was not a mistake. You can’t give someone a hundred kisses and call it a mistake.”

Emara pressed her body against the wall.

A hundred kisses.

This felt wrong.

So wrong!

Her ears should not be party to this conversation. How was she going to get past the door without Kellen seeing her?

Oh, Gods.

“I must go, Kellen. Two young men cannot be seen together like this. If we are found in this compromising position…”

Two men? Kellen was in the room with another boy. Not that it mattered to Emara what gender he had been kissing; it made no difference to her, but clearly, it did to them.

It mattered to Hunting families.

She had to find a way to leave.

“I know what would happen if we were found. There is no need for you to remind me,” Kellen advised with despondency.

Oh, Gods, what would their families do to them? Emara’s stomach flipped and twisted. She was truly intruding on a private conversation. Maybe she could go back into the other room until they were done?

“Can’t a hundred and one kisses be enough for us to stop?” The other man in the room spoke with a hint of sadness.

When Kellen didn’t respond, the male walked forward, making himself visible in the threshold of the door. He had dark red hair, a little longer than Gideon’s. His skin was a couple of shades lighter than Kellen’s, whose tanned skin looked darker in the lighting of the room. The red-haired boy reached up and cupped Kellen’s face.

“Emara?”

Emara’s head snapped around.

Gideon stood at the bottom of the corridor; he tilted his head to the side, confused by her standing against the wall. She sprang up—she couldn’t let Kellen and the other boy be seen.

Making the decision in a second, she knew she would rather let herself be seen by the boys in the room than let them be seen by Gideon.

She stepped into the line in which Kellen could clearly see her, revealing that she was there.

She coughed loudly. “Gideon, I couldn’t find the bathroom. I—I—” She had to think quickly.

He started walking towards her.

No, no, no! She heard a curse coming from the room and a slight scuffle.

“Are you okay?” He walked farther down the corridor, his brows pulled in confusion.

Now! She had to move now.

She ran towards Gideon and threw her arms around his neck, smacking her lips against his. He draped his arms around her waist, embracing her as he kissed her back. It felt so wrong to kiss him like this, but she had to get him out of the corridor for Kellen to walk safely out of the room. Unseen.

Pulling at his shirt, she ran her hands through his hair as she deepened the kiss.

“I am so sorry,” he breathed into her mouth. “I wish I could tell you everything.”

“Don’t apologise, just kiss me.”

He ran his hands through her hair and moved his mouth against hers. She hated the fact that she couldn’t even enjoy this moment between them. She hated that the kiss was a beneficial distraction. But she couldn’t see another way…

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