Page 87 of Gothikana

He pushed his hands in his pockets, tilting his head to the side. ‘A woman I’m in love with.’

Her heart stopped.

So did her hands.

She heard the gasps of the students around her, shocked that he of all people would say something like that, feel something like that.

Corvina felt the eyes swing to her and barely controlled her face, shuffling the cards again in hands that trembled slightly, her insides breaking apart and fusing together as he watched her with all the ferocity on his face.

‘What about her?’ Corvina swallowed, her voice thankfully steady even as her insides were a riot.

‘I’d like to know if she feels the same,’ he declared, never taking his eyes off her. Had they been alone, Corvina would have pushed him to the ground and ripped his clothes off. The intense concoction of arousal, emotion, and something so inexplicable pulsed inside her veins, her eyes wanting to tear up and her lips wanting to grin, her chest heaving with breathlessness and her heart pounding with overstimulation. A hush fell on the crowd as they waited for the card.

Corvina shuffled, knowing the card would be her response, would be everything she felt but couldn’t say at the time. She needed him to know it, with the sky and the sun and the soil as their witness.

A card fell out.

With shaking hands, she picked it up, her lips trembling, and turned it toward him.

Two of Cups.

The card of love exchanged, connected, deepened.

‘She feels the same, Mr Deverell.’ Corvina caught his blazing eyes. ‘She feels exactly the same.’

He would have kissed her then.

She saw it in his eyes, that fierce look he wore right before he tipped her chin and tasted her mouth. But he stilled, staying rooted to the spot, his hands clenching and unclenching in his pockets as she watched.

It was one of the most profound, intense moments of her life, shared just between the two of them in the middle of a crowd.

‘That’s relieving,’ he remarked, before giving her another heated look and walking off.

Corvina sat there in the grass, her world tilting yet again on its axis at his casual declaration, a smile on her face as she watched him go.

Chapter 24

Corvina

He never broughtup their declaration, neither did she.

He left Verenmore for two days immediately after for some work while Corvina got into her studies, but god, she missed him.

On the third day, he left her a note asking her to meet him in the tower room after midnight.

Corvina snuck out of her room in her black lace nightgown, one of the special ones that she’d put on just for him, and walked down the corridor with her candles lighting the way. The entire floor was asleep as she made her way quietly up the stone stairs, coming to the spiral staircase and climbing it.

She got to the highest landing and paused, remembering the first time she’d seen him months ago right from the same spot, reminiscing about how enthralled she had been, how enthralled she still was.

A small smile on her lips, she pushed open the heavy door just a bit, wincing at the loud creak of its hinges, and slipped in, going straight to the big arched window with an ornate pattern on the border. She put the candlestick to the side and looked out.

It was a surprisingly clear night. From this high in the tower, she could see the twinkling lights of the town far away in the valley, the endless mountain surrounded by velvety black forest, the half-moon so close she could reach out her hand and touch it. She wondered how the wind would feel on her face at this height. The windows were boarded up with glass, possibly to keep the elements from making their way into the room.

She wondered for a split second how Troy must have felt that high on the roof, sadness making her shake the thought away. Down below, she watched the empty cobblestoned path, lost in her thoughts of Troy and Alissa’s deaths and their uncanny similarities.

It took her a minute to feel eyes on her.

She looked at the reflection on the glass as Vad leaned against the door, his hands in his pockets, his gaze on her. The door through which she’d entered was shut, somehow not having made a sound. Did he know a trick?

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