Page 99 of Bound By Darkness

“You’re welcome,” he whispered, his voice breathless as he glanced at me.

The voice was gone, the lock intact as the darkness no longer lingered in the crevices of my mind.

My lips parted. “You… you kissed me to see if it would work?”

“It did, didn’t it?”

Was that all it had been? A shock to stuff my casting behind the door? Had it meant anything to him… like it had to me as my pulse refused to drown back into that sea of darkness?

“Thalia, there’s something else I want?—”

The tent flaps moved as Chiron walked in, his staff resting against pockets of decaying grass. Glancing between us, he scoffed. “Did I interrupt something?”

Ivan climbed to his feet, his hand prying from my neck as he completely ignored the question. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“Hmm,” Chiron stated, his gaze falling to mine.

I shuffled to my feet as my sleeve wiped the remaining taste of him away. “What are you doing here?”

Chiron smirked, bits of gray shining from the flame. “It seems you found something of considerable importance in my city.”

“You told him?”

“He reads the Language of Old,” Ivan said.

“I thought you said only your mother spoke it.”

Chiron scoffed. “Did you tell her anything, boy?”

“She’s the only one that spoke it, but she taught family how to read it.” Ivan scratched the stubble on his chin. “Chiron isn’t an old friend. He’s my Uncle.”

“Your… Uncle?”

For the first time, I stared at Chiron. His hair was peppered with gray and wrinkles dotted his forehead, but thefeatures were there. The chiseled jaw, the pointed nose, and the light dusting of freckles under layers of knowledge. The resemblance was uncanny with both of them in the room.

Ivan cleared his throat. “My mother never taught me, but she did teach her brother.” Ivan splayed out the pages, a hand gesturing for Chiron to hobble over.

He grabbed a page, shuffling it toward the glow of the oil lamp as the room fell silent.

It felt like ages as I paced in the room, thoughts muddying together of my fate to Cethales, of Chiron, of the pages, but most of all, my mind reeled with the kiss.

My fingertips touched my lips. They were still swollen, my heart fluttering like a sprite’s wings as I remembered the instant spark of lightning. My lips were still burning, as was the rest of my body.

Everything about it made me want more. The way my hands perfectly fit around his neck as they twirled bits of black or the way I’d molded to his solid frame as his hands brought me close. I couldn’t help it as my eyes drifted to him.

He was preoccupied with Chiron, his eyes planted on him as his Uncle decoded the pages I’d stolen. Was Ivan thinking about it too or had it been nothing more than a way to quell the casting? Did he feel anything like how I was feeling—that rush continuing to pulsate in my veins and lips?

Ivan’s eyes shifted to mine, the intensity nearly knocking me onto my back as I looked away, heat binding to the base of my neck.

“Thalia,” Ivan said, his voice carrying in the quiet room. “Listen, I?—”

“I’m finished,” Chiron said, his voice booming in the tent.

“Did you translate it?” Ivan asked, his eyes shining the way a young boy does when receiving a quest. It was quite amusing to see him brightening.

“Yes and no,” Chiron answered. “I’m missing information to translate all of it.”

“Missing information?” I asked, my steps light as I stood beside him.

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