Page 42 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson

“You’re apologizing?” I ran my hands down my face, both in pain and confusion. “Why?” Her face turned to something tortured at the sight of me. She didn’t answer me. My eyes stared at the viper-handled dagger sticking out from my thigh. Thea stepped forward and ripped it from my leg. Fuck, that did not feel very fucking good. Blood rushed from the wound. I went to hold my hand to it but stopped when she kneeled and pushed her hands against the wound. She stared up at me, and my jaw clenched at the sight of her on her knees.

Then I saw the glow from her hands and watched it seep into my leg. The blood stopped pushing through herfingers, and the pain disappeared immediately. Fear filled her eyes as she backed up.

“What the fuck was that?”

She didn’t know she could heal.

“You used healing magic.” I squatted down to her level. “You have a lot of magic inside of you, my love. You don’t need to be scared.”

Her breathing was rapid, and I cursed myself for calling her that. It was hard to control the habit. Her lust pushed through the bond, and I closed my eyes tightly to keep myself in check. She was going to fucking be the death of me if she kept looking at me with those eyes and her desire pumping through the bond.

“I should go.” She stood and started walking toward Cerithia. I was hot on her heels, desperate to just be near her for a little longer. She walked silently beside me at a painfully slow pace. She was exhausted, and I just wanted to take care of her.

“You know, Cerithia is quite a walk from here. You can stay the night if you’d like.”

“Did you hit your head recently? We are at war. We are... enemies?”

Her answer was exactly what I expected as I smiled at her. She watched me, though, as if the word enemies did not feel right.

“We can take a break from pretending to hate each other,” I said the words that I did to her all those years ago.

“We do not hate each other. We can’t even pretend.” Her body stiffened like she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. My heart pounded faster.

“You’re right. We can’t even pretend to dislike each other. I mean, what kind of enemy would make you cum on his fingers?”

Thea’s face burned bright red as her mouth fell open. She had stopped walking so she could gape at me. I just gave her a big smile. She told me once that my smile was one of her favorite things.

“You can’t go around and say things like that,” she muttered and started walking again.

“But you love it when I say things like that to you.”

She refused to acknowledge me, but her cheeks were tinged pink from her desire.

“I’ll make you a deal, Thea. I’ll get you back to Cerithia in less than a minute with my shadow magic if you tell me why you’re blushing so much right now.”

“I’d rather walk.” She lied. Okay, she was playing hard to get.

“Let me guess it then.” I scratched my chin as if I didn’t already know. “You think I’m handsome. No, that wouldn’t make you blush. You want me to kiss you. No,that wouldn’t make you blush either. I know…” I stopped walking, and so did she. “You pictured me naked.”

“No,” she said too quickly. “I wasn’t blushing for anything like that. I’m just...flushed from exhaustion.”

My little liar.

I grabbed her arm to stop her from walking and turned her, so she was watching me.

“Is it me you picture when you touch yourself at night?”

Shock filled her features. But fuck, her eyes were turning black as she stared at me. I knew she pictured me because she sent images down the bond accidentally. And she thought about it a lot.

“You’ve lost your mind,” she scoffed.

“You didn’t deny it, my love.” Shit, I didn’t mean to call her that again. Her eyes fell to my mouth when the name registered.

“Do you flirt with everyone?” she asked.

“Would that make you jealous?” I asked as I watched her closely for any reaction.

“Why would I care what my enemy does?” She lied quickly, but not before her eyes flashed red without her permission, showing me exactly how she felt about that. I lifted her into my arms because somehow she wasgetting slower.

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