Page 117 of Of Flames and Fallacies

He snickers behind me, wraps a hand over my shoulder, and spins me to face him. “One night with you was more than enough of a thanks.”

I sneer. “You’re infuriating. Is there a reason you can’t leave me alone?”

A grin pulls at the corner of his lips, as if he had been waiting all along for the question. “Because I know you—”

“You knownothingabout me—”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I know exactly who you are.” He tilts my chin up to face him. “Because you’re just…like…me.”

I swat his hand off my face. “I’ll never be like you.”

He laughs. “Except, you are. You’re angry. You believe you’re better than me only because youthinkyou can hide it better. But I see it.”

I turn and walk away, not interested in carrying the conversation further.

Yet, his voice still rings out as he follows me. “The only difference between you and I, is I don’t give a fuck.”

I ignore him, crouching down near a bunch of wild chamomile by a tree trunk. Pulling my skirt up to access the sheath on the side of my thigh, his gaze grazes up my leg.

He shields his eyes with the back of his hand with an exaggerated gasp. “Have you no modesty?”

I glare at him. As if he hadn’t seen every bare piece of my skin and every vulnerable angle of me days ago. I shear the stalks of the flowers and place them into my basket.

“Daeja, I’ve got someone following me in the forest. Stay hidden, and don’t come out.”

“Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Can you say it again?” Darian chuffs.

I whip to him, flabbergasted. Did he somehow read my mind? “How did you—”

“How did I manage to get so devilishly handsome? I ask myself that every day. Or…were you going to ask about my wicked intellect?” He leans back against the tree trunk and crosses his arms over his chest. “I could also divulge how I’ve mastered cunnilingus—”

“You are terribly annoying,” I blurt.

He cocks his head to the side, his hair sweeping down across his temple. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

He laughs. The sound shakes in his arms and chest. If he wasn’t so damn annoying it might be an endearing sight, the way it warms his angled and sharp features.

“Now go away—” I start, but I pause as the sunlight catches a patch of grass a few yards away. Sunlight illuminates lavender flowers sprouting from the ground, their long green stalks gently swaying in the breeze.

He follows me over to the flowers, watching me with fascination. Intrigue pulls one of his eyebrows up in an arch at the awe warming my cheeks. I slice into the stalks of the flowers, freeing them from the ground and inhaling their familiar scent. Forcing any thought of Cole out of my mind, I’m brought back to the memories of the river in the northern forest, of my home, and of my family.

“What are those?” Darian interrupts.

I sheathe the dagger on my side. “What’s it going to take for you to go back to camp?”

“Tell me what those are. Some rare medicinal flower?”

“No, they’re alliums. I used to pick them in the forest near my home…” I trail off as I stare at the splendid raves of purple flowers, brushing a petal with my thumb.

Darian’s cunning, if anything. I don’t have to explain that the flowers remind me of a home I once knew.

My mother used to tell me smell was the strongest sense tied to memories. My eyes flutter closed, the scent of the alliums bringing me back to her. To the days where my biggest worry was catching fish—not delivering a forbidden dragon to the Dragon Lands, while avoiding being caught and condemned by the King and his people. And definitely not sleeping with a man I barely knew because I told myself I was protecting Daeja, when in part it was because I was pissed at Cole. And the other parts are confused by how exhilarating my night with Darian was? Maybe even enjoyed it?

No.

I wasn’t quite ready to consider that.

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