Page 137 of Spark of the Everflame

Our lips collided, and I was lost.

Lost in the grip of his strong, rough hand as it rose to gently cup my face. Lost in the palm skating down my back, over my hips, along my thigh. Lost in the rumble that vibrated from his throat, rippling through the blood that slicked my fingers.

Lost in the sweep of his tongue as he savored me, slowly and deliberately, like the most decadent dessert—like the last wish of a dying man.

Lost in the roll of his hips between my legs, and the hardness that pressed between us.

Lost in the way I hungrily arched to meet it.

I didn’t even realize I’d dropped the knife until my hands were on him, roaming his body, tangling in his hair. A breathy moan slipped free from my lips, and the sound of it goaded him on, my back crushing against the stone as he wrapped me in his arms.

I’dneverbeen kissed like this before. I’d never even known this was what a kiss could be.

And that scared me even more than a blade to the throat.

Adrenaline set my veins alight. I fumbled for my training, racking my brain for some pertinent lesson on how to fight off an enemy you couldn’t seem to resist, but the only words of my father’s that surfaced were utterly useless and horrifyingly mad:The truth is that I just knew.

With more effort than I was ready to confess, I slid my palms to Luther’s chest and shoved him back.

“I don’t know who you think I am,” I panted as I tried to piece my anger back together from its shattered fragments. “There are plenty of people in Mortal City who will happily spread their legs for a rich Descended suitor, but I am not one of them.”

He couldn’t have looked more disgusted if he tried. “That’swhat you think this is? Is your opinion of me truly so low?”

Something dark passed over his face. I forced my attention away—down to the bloody handprints coating his chest, his arms, his jaw, their scarlet streaks following the line of his scar.

“How should I know?” I said, shrugging like it meant nothing. Like that kiss—that fuckingkiss—had meant nothing. “You’re practically a stranger. You’ve never shown me any side of you that’s real.”

He fell preternaturally still. Any remaining shards of his icy veneer melted away under the heat of his rising temper, that blazing soul of his now burning beautifully, fearsomely unchecked.

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. All this time, I’d dismissed Luther as someone ice-cold and heartless, too frosty to feel anything true.

But Luther wasn’t cold at all.

Luther was aninferno.

Looking at him now was like staring in a mirror in the worst kind of way. I hid behind false bravado and snarky jokes, while Luther’s shield was forged with brooding stares and clenched jaws—but inside, we were one and the same.

Inside, we rattled the bars keeping us trapped in lives we didn’t choose. Inside, we roared with an insatiable craving for more. Inside, we paced and we planned and we waited.

Inside, weburned.

“You know, Diem,” he growled, “I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about you, wondering if you’re the best liar I’ve ever met or the worst. I think I finally know the answer.” He placed his palms flat against the wall, ensnaring me between his arms. “The only person you’re good at lying to is yourself.”

My anger forged back together with a sizzling crack. “How dare y—”

“Tell me you don’t feel it.” Sapphire sparks ignited in his gaze as the energy surrounding us fluttered in a matching rhythm. “Look me in the eyes, and tell me you don’t feel my magic.”

Though no trace of ghostly light or deadly shadow spilled from his hands, I might as well have been drowning in it. The hum of his magic was a sword swung in the darkness, an ominous storm you couldn’t yet see but felt brewing in the wind. It was everywhere and nowhere, infusing the very air itself, holding me in its grasp and caressing my skin like a thousand hands.

Thevoicein my chest purred in recognition.

“Go ahead,” he breathed. “Lie to me. I already know the answer. I know you feel my power.” His chin rose, our lips so very, very close. “Because I can feel yours, too.”

No.

No.

He smirked. “You’re no more mortal than I am.”

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