Page 71 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

Or ever, in fact.

A shudder moved up her spine at the thought of him, his hands on her, his lips on her.

She dropped her gaze to the ground, taking in the silvery stones. “I’ve never been in love,” Emara admitted. She looked at his throat as he moved under the arch, tilting his head to the side. He was so strong, in every aspect of his body, yet as gentle as the roses that framed the archway.

“Waiting for the right one?” he offered a friendly smile.

“I can’t be sure there is a right one for me. How can anyone?” She brushed her hand along the arch of the hedge, feeling the leaves and the branches scratch against her palm to take her mind off wanting to reach up and grab his neck with two hands. “When I was younger, I always thought I would meet someone nice from the village and get married after a few months of courting. We would probably have children, and I would work in a shop or with my grandmother when the kids were old enough to fend for themselves—the usual path for a woman in Mossgrave.” She shook her head and smiled at the sound of her voice, at the unwillingness to accept that life. “As I grew older, none of that satisfied me. The men that courted me, none of them could make me feel the way I wanted them to. I didn’t want the small village life or mentality of the males that lived there. So I told myself I wouldn’t settle. I wouldn’t settle for anything mediocre. I would settle for nothing short of breathtakingly powerful love that awakes your soul and stimulates your mind. I want a purposeful love, and I think that it’s more than just settling for the first guy who shows you affection, you know?” She tilted her chin down, feeling a little blush of embarrassment. She had never had a deep conversation with a guy that involved feelings, her inner desires. But something about Gideon allowed her to be honest and open. Calm. Freeing her thoughts from a cage in her mind. “I’m sorry, I totally went off track. I have embarrassed myself.”

Gideon closed the gap between them and ran both of his hands down her upper arms to her wrists, sending shock waves through her heart. “Don’t apologise for being passionate, it’s refreshing. You are refreshing.” He slid his hand from her wrist down, brushing his fingertips over the knuckles of her hand as they studied each other. “Don’t ever settle for less than what you have just described. It would be a travesty to have a heart like yours owned by someone who isn’t worthy of it.”

He brought his lips down to her hand and gently placed a kiss on her skin. She inhaled as the embrace of his mouth warmed her hand, pulling her lungs to a tightening squeeze. He flashed a dazzling smile that gleamed as the lowering sun hit his face, then intertwined his fingers with hers. She had to stop herself from pulling his face into hers and kissing him, there and then.

What was wrong with her? She had shocked herself with how forward she wanted to be around him. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and feel him pull her in.

“Since you have been so forthcoming, I will let you in on a secret of mine.” Gideon lowered his hand but kept his fingers wrapped around hers. “I don’t think my father ever loved my mother. Their marriage was an alliance to the Hunters and that’s something I would never want. I am lucky that I am the second-born male of the Blacksteel name, or I would have the same fate as Torin. Not being able to marry for love or desire, but only for power and allegiance for the clan. I don’t want to imagine it.”

Blacksteel, your fate has not changed since the last time we looked through the crystal ball.

The Spirit Witch’s voice rang into Emara’s mind. Is that what she had been referring to? His fate? Was Torin hoping that he didn’t have to go through with it? An arranged marriage? A dull twinge poked in her heart.

Not likely, Emara counterbalanced her feelings. Torin wasn’t the marrying for love type. He would marry for an alliance and have a new mistress each month, that would suit him.

“Where is your mother? I don’t think I have seen her around the tower,” Emara wondered, distracting herself from Torin Blacksteel.

“You won’t have. She doesn’t live with us.” Gideon lowered his head. “After Kellen entered the Hunter Selection and was successful, my father didn’t need her at the tower anymore. He was no longer a boy, but considered a man. She lives in our second home. She’s happy there.”

They walked hand-in-hand as the garden flowers blew in the wind.

Emara shivered as she realised that his mother had been banished from the tower after she birthed and raised the boys for the Blacksteel legacy. Gideon’s mother’s body had been used as a host to make sure there would be heirs for the clan. Soldiers.

Emara couldn’t hide her anguish. “I am sorry, Gideon, that’s awful. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.” Emara searched his face for something that would make her feel like he wasn’t upset. “Do you still see her?” she asked. She saw a glimmer of emotion cross his face, but he only allowed it for a second.

“Yes, we all go and see her when training or our duty allows it.” He picked a flower from the garden with his free hand. “She would like you.” He bowed his head to smell the flower, and his tone suggested that he missed her greatly. “She will be at the annual uplift. Obviously to keep up appearances with the other clans and covens for my father’s sake—the united front—but she will be there, nonetheless.” His brows lifted, and he offered her the flower he had picked.

“Thank you.” Emara blushed as she lifted the flower from Gideon’s grasp and studied it. A white rose, of pure delicacy. The buds had just newly begun to open.

“It’s nice to have someone to talk to. Or walk with,” he said softly.

“I’m sure there are plenty of people in the tower who you could talk to or walk with,” she replied with a smile of her own.

“Yeah, but none of them are you.” He flashed a charming smile and her stomach somersaulted.

“That is very true,” she smirked. “None of them are me, and my grandmother always told me that was my superpower.”

He smiled, his full lips curving into a delicious grin. Lips that she couldn’t stop exploring with her eyes.

“I hope you can make it to the uplift,” Gideon interrupted her thoughts. “Father says he is extending the invite to the humans to show gratitude for how well we are co-existing in the tower and to raise their spirits. It would make it more bearable if you were there.” His tone was as sincere as his face.

“Mhmm,” she pouted. “I have heard of this uplift in the dining hall. It’s quite the topic among the villagers. I will see if I can walk there after the training sessions you have been making me do,” she teased, lightening the mood. “My body is aching from them.”

“I better take the next couple of training sessions easy, then, since you are going to have to do more than walk. You must dance.” Gideon’s face lit up as anxiety crept its way along Emara’s limbs.

“Dance? Oh, no, I don’t really dance.” Emara couldn’t stand the thought of a formal dance.

“No? I heard you were surprisingly good on the dancefloor the other night.”

Torin!

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