Page 67 of The Serpent’s Shadow

I stumbled into him and slammed my lips over his, our chests bumping together. The kiss was awkward and deepand promising. His lips, softer than the warmest pillow, more inviting than a holy house during worship.

He groaned into my mouth, and when we pulled away, leaving everyone else stunned, I ran a hand over his chest and said, “Just in case.”

“. . . Just in case,lunis’ai?” His cheeks were slightly pink, the decorum gone from him for the first time since our hug during runeshaping practice.

I was the cause of his fluster. It filled me with giddiness and excitement.Just in case something goes horribly wrong and I never see you again, silly elf.

“Never mind,” I murmured. This time, I squeezed both of his hands before letting him go. “Sorry. I’ve wanted to do that since we left Elayina’s cave. I didn’t have the chance.”

He dipped his chin and kissed me again, harder this time.

“Loki steal my fucking socks,” Sven grumbled behind us.

His words made me chuckle in Corym’s mouth, both of us smiling as our lips stayed locked. It seemed we both got immense satisfaction from the awkwardness the others must have been feeling to stand there and witness this—elf and human, kissing, perhaps for the first time in generations.

I wanted to do so much more.

“I’ve been wishing to do that sincewellbefore Lady Elayina’s cave,” Corym whispered to me.

Our words were low. A conversation only meant for us, despite the bodies on both sides of us.

“But we shouldn’t have done it,” he told me.

My forehead creased with wrinkles. “Why not?” I asked breathlessly, only wanting to kiss him again.

He cupped my cheek, massaging his thumb over my chin as he took me in one last time, his golden eyes flaring and meeting mine.

“Because now, every moment I’m apart from you, both waking and asleep, I’ll only be thinking of the taste and feel of your lips. And the wait until I can do it again is going to be positively agonizing,lunis’ai.”

Chapter 21

Ravinica

ARNE WAS BRUISED ANDbroken. Sven washelpingme. Grim had snapped into a berserk state the moment he saw me. Magnus looked weakened, even paler than usual.

It seemed I had returned just in the nick of time for these men. I wasn’t selfish enough to equatealltheir struggles with my disappearance . . . but I knew them well enough now to understand I played a big part in their mental and physical wellbeing.

It was insane to me that I had such control over these burly Vikings. All of them were strong in their own way. Proud and powerful, with abilities that would put a normal human to shame. Masters of combat, the cream of the crop in runeshaping.

And yet, their strength was tethered to my prosperity and health. My safety.

As I tried to ignore the sadness that filled me with every step further away from Corym E’tar in the opposite direction, a thrill of something needy and fiery took root in my belly.

The four men surrounding me, alone with me now and circling me like gargoyles watching over a precious castle, did that to me. They filled me with the kind of desire and heat no man before them had ever accomplished.

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