Page 73 of Secrets & Curses of Cerithia

“You owe me a surprise.” His eyes twinkled with delight.

“I owe you fucking nothing,” I scoffed. I started turning to leave to help the few men left fighting. He grabbed my hand and turned me back.

“I love it when you pretend to hate me, little viper; it only makes this more fun for me.”

“Who said I was pretending?” I retorted.

He threw his handsome face toward the darkened sky and laughed loudly. My mind held onto that sound so I could never forget it. Cassius’ laughter was my new favorite noise.

“I look forward to my prize.” His pretty golden eyes gleamed.

“Well, you’ll be waiting forever. The hot spring was as far as you’ll ever get with me.”

He frowned for only a moment.

“You don’t have to keep running from this, princess.” He smiled when I pointed my dagger at him. “I think you enjoy this as much as I do.”

“You are my enemy,” I reminded him and myself. My heart was racing so rapidly in my chest that I worried he could hear it.

“An enemy that you kissed twice.” His eyes gleamed brightly. He reminded me every time we saw each other. Which seemed to happen often these days, like he was following me. Then he started this stupid game of how many times we could have killed each other. I did like this game, but I wouldn’t admit it. I had panicked in the hot spring when he touched me, and I liked it too much, so I got out and ran before anything could happen. But I would be lying if I said that kiss, and the way his body felt against me didn’t haunt my mind.

“Then I left because it was a mistake,” I lied.

His eyes looked over my face, then smiled, like he knew I was a damn liar. He leaned forward.

“Something that feels that fucking good isn’t a mistake, little viper. It’s a divine intervention written in the stars above.”

His words made me blush, even though he had been flirting with me for months. Cassius’ eyes softened as he looked at me. His fingers came up and gently brushed my wild curls from my face.

“Blushing for me, Thea?”

I looked over my shoulder at my men. They had finished off the Kizar guards and were doing a walk-through. They didn’t seem to see me behind the tree yet, but they would quickly. When I turned back to Cassius, he had moved closer. His chest was nearly flush with mine, but I could only focus on how handsome he was when he looked at me like that, like he really did care about me. My body swayed toward him ever so slightly, like it was begging for his touch without my permission.

“I look forward to whatever my surprise will be.”

“You’ll be waiting forever.”

“I’d wait forever if you made me,” he said, his voice soft, as if it were a true promise he was making.

I turned and walked away from him before I did something stupid, like kiss him again. I looked over my shoulder as he watched me walk away before turning and disappearing into the trees behind him. I stared at the spot and felt that stupid heart of mine wish he had stayed.

?????

I ignored the feeling in my chest every time I thought about him for three days. It only made the feeling worse, though. It was like Cassius was calling to something deep inside me that I couldn’t even see—something only he could. No form ofdistraction had worked. Even touching myself felt lackluster. Cassius was the only one who could satisfy this need I had.

I owed him a prize; it made me smile. I stared at myself in the reflection of the water. That is why I was doing this, I told myself.

A prize for almost killing me the most. It didn’t mean anything. I could convince myself of this lie. I stared through the trees and watched his guard’s camp. He hadn’t been that far from my camp, so it took me no time to find it. It was like he wanted me to be able to find him. I had watched him disappear into a large black tent and not emerge again. That had been an hour ago. I had been trying to talk myself out of this since then. I was nervous, so much so that my palms were sweaty.

I should be cold with the little clothing I had on under my button-up cloak. I had left my hair down but slipped the oversized hood on. His men were on patrol, but they disappeared from sight, and I knew it was now or never. I hurried from the tree line and straight into his tent. I stared at the large bed he had there. He was sleeping on his back with no shirt, and my eyes instantly drifted over his tattooed skin.

My heart pounded in anticipation as I moved slightly closer to the bed. I could stab him right now, which would be a million points because I had infiltrated his tent. I shook my head and took one more step forward, but suddenly he sprang from the bed and jumped at me. He gripped me and pinned me to the bed with a dagger to my throat.

“Ok, I’ll leave.” I tried to tease him, but he let go of me instantly and stood up.

“Little viper?” He looked around like he wasn’t sure if this was real life or a dream. “You snuck into my tent.” His voice held a note of awe in it, which made me smile.

“I could have killed you four times over. I should get double the points for that.” The nervousness I was feeling made myvoice waver slightly. Cassius’ eyes drifted over me, and I felt my body tremble at his gaze.

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