Page 116 of When the Woods Go Silent

I stand and shake my head, holding his gaze.

“You should be, out here alone in the forest with so much magic loose. You aren’t being safe, Rose.”

Is he just cautioning me, or does he already know me well enough to understand that choosing danger is out of character for me? Not for Ruby, but for me? I’m always watching for the safest path.

But not tonight.

He steps closer, and I let him, keeping my eyes fixed on his as he comes close enough to kiss me. He doesn’t, though we’re breathing each other’s air, my head tilted back to see him better.I was tricked before by Ronan’s glamor, and now I wonder how. Kier is so clear to me here, so bright. The black night sky stretches out above him, stenciled over with swaying branches, and I choose danger again.

I cup the back of his neck and pull him in, our lips meeting in something that turns to liquid fire in seconds. The attraction between us is magnetic and primal, and I’m not surprised to find myself on my back on the forest floor within minutes. He’s created a soft bed of moss and tiny flowers to cradle me, and although his magic only just called them into being, I can feel their energy, too.

He’s created something living, something sentient, and as I understand the power this carries, my body vibrates with the possibility that I could have this same magic.

Even an echo of it would be enough to change the world.

“You’re different tonight,” Kier murmurs against my neck, his hand sliding under my shirt to caress my skin. “Tell me what’s changed.”

I arch into him, wrapping one leg around his hips to pull him closer. “I can hear the trees. Understand them.”

He stills, raising his head to fix me in his gaze, curious but still guarded. “You let the magic back in.”

I give him a half-smile, grappling with the idea. “I don’t know what all of this means, Kier.”

He gives me a rakish grin and consumes me in a kiss that leaves me breathless, his hands gripping the soft curves of my hips like he will never want to let go.

“It means I found who I was looking for.”

My heart stutters, but my brain sharpens. Am I more than a prize to him? More than a potential weapon of war? My body stiffens against his, and he notices.

“Rose, no. Don’t spiral so far ahead.”

His words startle me - how does he know my anxiety so well? My bad habit of taking one seed and imagining the whole garden it could begin, years from now. Will this seed of magic I planted tonight grow into something beautiful or something poisonous?

“Stay right here, right now,” Kier says, plying me with more kisses. My body is softening again, molding to his and accepting his hands everywhere.

“I have a theory,” he whispers, fingers grasping the elastic of my sweatpants and slipping them down, then my underwear. His mouth lands hot kisses along my stomach, each breath a little lower.

Cool raindrops mix with the heat of us, and I give in, quieting my spinning thoughts as best I can and focusing on the pleasure he doles out so generously.

“What’s your theory?” I gasp as his mouth settles at the apex of my thighs, his hands spreading me wide to the vibrant night air.

His tongue runs the length and width of me slowly, measuring my pleasure an inch at a time. Eventually, I do what he asked and sink into the moment, feeling the pulse of magic all around me as the trees stand witness to the way he breaks me apart.

Kier swirls his tongue around my clit, curving two fingers deep inside me to find the twin spot on my inner walls. My eyes roll back as he plays me so expertly, bringing me to the very edge with a skill I’ve rarely experienced. He backs away, kissing everywhere but where I want him to, his fingers stroking the edges of desire, sharpening them like a knife. A whimper escapes my lips, and he laughs, low and prideful.

“I have a theory that strong emotion will unlock your magic. Pleasure, or pain. I know which one I prefer.”

I raise my head to see him, his amber-green eyes flashing up from the center of my body, his full lips glistening with thetaste of me. As our eyes hold, he sucks my clit between his lips, pumping his fingers again in that perfect spot. Higher and higher he drags me, until I don’t think I can hold on any longer, then he pulls back again.

Laughs, when my moan ends in something more like a growl at being denied yet again.

“Bloom for me, Rose,” he says, taking the words the trees spoke to me and turning them instantly sultry, a promise and a challenge twined together. “Make something bloom for me, and I’ll give you what you want.”

My lips part as I understand the game. I created a rose before, when he pressed me against the bookshelf and made me come with barely more than his thigh between my legs. And I created vines when I was scared of Ronan, a sort of pain as I imagined him stealing my history and rewriting it to fit his needs.

Kier blinks languidly, giving my clit the tiniest flick of his tongue. I jolt against the sudden ache of need. “How? I don’t know how.” I’m desperate for the release he’s promising.

“You know more than you think you do,” he says, his eyes straying to the trees above us, and I realize he’s right.

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