Page 80 of The Duke and the Disciple

When she came to, she was lying in the same bed. Rahn’s bed. “You scared me, Squish.”

“I didn’t mean to.” She tried to sit, but wooziness prevented her. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s nothing to fuss over.”

“You lost consciousness. That isn’t nothing.” Rahn returned with a rag and a bowl, along with some cloth bandages. “I have half a mind to march into that savage’s bedchamber and do the same to him.”

“Except... It’s my fault. I’m the one who charged him like a raging bull and engaged him in a ridiculous battle that I’m frankly embarrassed by, now that I’m calmer.”

“Good one of us is calm,” he muttered, dipping the rag in the water.

Aesylt, finally, really looked at him and what she saw sent her heart into tatters. He wastrulyangry, his face a barely disguised tableau of hot rage. The flush in his cheeks didn’t fade when his eyes softened, when he dabbed the rag gently against her wound.

She lifted her hand to his, stilling his movement. “I’m really all right, Rahn.”

His entire expression shifted at the sound of his name. Tension rippled along his jaw. His hand went rigid under hers. “You may have persuaded me not to confront him, but you cannot stop me from looking after you.”

“I can dress my own wound.”

“And yet I’m doing it for you anyway.”

“In the celestial realm, I can actually heal myself. I have all sorts of magic I can’t use here in our world.” She angled her face inward, toward his outstretched arm. On a whim, she pressed her lips to the soft underside of his forearm and left them there, breathing in.

Rahn stilled again. The only sound between them was their unmatched breaths. “I need you to say the words please.”

“What words?”

“And another... another with me.”

“You want to go to the celestial realm? For me to heal myself?”

“Just say them.” He sucked his teeth with a tight inward groan. “Please.”

“And...” Her voice trembled against his skin. “Another with me.”

The world shifted. She barely had time to adjust before Rahn’s lips were on hers in a crushing kiss. A soft sob escaped him and he pulled back, just enough to wrap her in his arms.

She let him hold her like that for what seemed like minutes, during which her wound slowly closed and the pain dulled, but she could no longer restrain the question. “You wanted to come here to kiss me?”

“I just realized... I realized...” He swallowed, his eyes traveling toward her healed wound before continuing. “How many things in our world are actively trying to destroy you right now. And I needed to take you somewhere that couldn’t happen. Just for a little while. Can we stay? A moment?”

Aesylt bit her lip, nodding. Something had changed, but as usual, she couldn’t read him. She couldn’t discern his intention at all.

He could have kissed her in the real world. He could have bolted the door, locking them away if he wanted to keep her safe.

Rahn wanted something else. He just didn’t know how to say it.

Aesylt sat up so she was beside him. She flattened a palm against his chest and let it slide down to his belly. “I want to apologize for how I acted in the Wintergarden.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You don’t need to.”

Aesylt closed her eyes and breathed deep. “I do. It was out of line, and you didn’t deserve that side of me. I hardly recognized myself out there.”

“I didn’t know Nyssa would be there,” Rahn replied.

“I know.”

“I would have waited for you, Aesylt, but I felt you needed your rest after... the night we had.”

“What I’m saying is there’s no need to explain anything.” She lowered her eyes, then lifted them with a nervous squint. “I came looking for you because... I was working up to a way to tell you I was ready to climb the final rung of the ladder with you. That I’d... I’dbeenready last night, but I feared scaring you if we moved too fast.”

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