Page 92 of Glow of the Everflame

“It’s not a bad idea, but it is a dangerous one. After today, any connection with the mortals is a risk.”

Doubt coiled in my belly. Pushing family away or keeping them close—it was a swinging pendulum I could never time just right. I was dancing on a never-ending tightrope, forever at risk of leaning too far in one direction.

He took a step closer. “You worried me today, at the funeral.” His voice was soft, almost tender, as he lowered his chin. “Are you alright?”

I tried to find some snappy comeback to tease him or make him laugh, anything to avoid him looking too closely at the weakness I always fought so hard to conceal.

But I couldn’t do it. Whatever his reasons, Luther had begun to let me see him—therealhim. And not just his smiles and his laughter, but his fears and his rage and his regrets. The least I could do was offer him the same in return.

I shook my head. “How bad is it?” I whispered.

He shifted forward, then paused, his muscles twitching as he held himself back. “We can fix it. We’ll come up with an explanation. We can arrange another display of your power when you’re ready, or we can—”

“Luther. Brutal honesty, remember?”

He let out a sharp exhale.

“How bad?” I pushed.

“Bad enough.”

I dropped my face into my hands with a muffled groan. “How did I mess this up so quickly? One appearance, and I’ve already signed my death warrant. That has to be some kind of record.”

“Look at me.” His hands wrapped around my wrists and gently pried them from my face as he tugged me closer. “You’re not going to die. I promised you, didn’t I?”

“You did,” I muttered.

“And I told you I always keep my promises.”

“You did.”

He tilted his chin down and gave me a stern look. “Do you trust me?”

For once, I didn’t let myself overthink it.

“I do.” I sighed dramatically. “Against all the odds, despite all my better judgment,somehow... I do.”

He smiled—a true smile, broad and exquisite, his face radiating such matchless brilliance that I pitied the sun.

He keeps smiling at you,Eleanor had said.And those are not the smiles he gives Taran and Lily.

My throat felt thick, the air too heavy. I hadn’t realized how near our bodies had become. So close. Too close. Not close enough.

He can’t keep his hands off you, she’d said.

My senses zeroed in on the way he held my wrists to his chest with such tenderness, so unlike his kiss—thatfucking kiss. If I thought on it long enough—which I never allowed myself to do—I could still feel the gritty stone against my back as his body crushed me to the palace wall, the knead of his fingers into my flushed skin, the way his tongue claimed me, branded me, as if it might leave his name on my lips forever.

I felt as trapped now as I had then, frozen in these ice-blue irises that followed me into my most shameful thoughts and dreams. I felt equally as conflicted, too—too scared to confront the emotions that waited within, too weak to turn away from them for good.

His hands tightened around my wrists, just for a moment, just long enough to flood my mind with disgraceful thoughts of that dominant grip onotherparts of my body. A gasp escaped with a soft, desperate sound, and his pupils blew wide.

I thought I’d finally found my reprieve when his hold loosened, but Luther had no intention of letting me go. His palms skated up my forearms, then to my elbows, and then the curve of my waist—slowly, torturously slowly, never losing their connection with my body—until he was holding my hips and pulling me, ever so slightly, against him.

Every blink was a battle, every breath a war.

Need burned hot in his gaze, its fire consuming all the air from the room. My mouth felt painfully dry, and when I wet my lips, his eyes snapped to the movement, looking like a wild fox caught in a hunter’s snare.

He moved more hungrily now, emboldened by my body’s treacherous reaction. His broad hands curved around my sides and traced the edge of my gown’s open back, following its hem until his hands rested perilously, scandalously low. His fingers hooked on the fabric’s edge, curving beneath it, knuckles grazing smoothly over my skin.

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