Page 40 of Road To Runes

"Excuseyou-" But my protest died in my throat as Asher grabbed my hips and whirled me around to face him.

Our bodies pressed against each other, and the heat emanating from him permeated deep inside me, resurrecting a fire that I had to put out every single day he was around me. I looked up into his eyes, utterly vulnerable, like putty in his hands, and Asher gazed down at me, fondness and concern creating an uncomfortable mixture in his eyes.

“You were trying to quit,” he said. “Remember?”

“Quitting is for losers.”

Asher snorted. “I guess that makes me the biggest loser then, huh?”

My heart and my brain had lost their connection, neither able to make sense of what was going on. With neither able to get a grip, my body acted of its own accord.

“Ahugeloser.” I seized him by the collar and he didn’t resist, so I yanked him an inch closer.

But Asher closed the gap, and my heart hit its head on my ribcage as he pressed his lips to mine.

Chapter 21

Every emotion I had suppressed in the last six months exploded within me in a burst of colour that flooded every inch of me. Until that moment, I hadn’t realised just how grey my emotional spectrum had become. How little I had felt, or allowed myself to feel as a means to hold back the agony at losing Asher.

His hand travelled up my back and pulled me in closer to him and I sank against his chest, our kiss deepening.

Questions attempted to surface in the rainbow deluge but they drowned in the cascade. In that moment, the last six months never existed. I hadn’t spent my nights curled up alone and wondering what I had done wrong, or what I could have done to fix things. Asher still cared for me, like he always had.

My hand slipped around the back of his neck, grabbing a fistful of his hair, just how he used to like, pulling him in deeper.

Any part of me that wanted to protect myself from the inevitable heartbreak when this moment ended was drowned out. I didn’t care. Not then. Not until I had to.

It wasn’t until that Hecate meowed loudly that my high crashed faster than a plane with broken engines, and I pulled away from Asher. But he kept his hands on me, keeping our bodies pressed together.

“What the hell are you doing?” I whispered.

“I thought it was the right thing,” Asher muttered. “I thought you’d be safer if…”

My curiosity pushed its way to the forefront, and suddenly my senses turned super sharp. Every twitch of his face, every change in his eyes spoke of conflict and pain. But from what?Hehad ended things between us and for what? Because he thought I’d besafe?

“Safer?” I asked. “Asher, is there something you need to-?”

Asher took my face in his hands and stared into my eyes with an intensity I had never seen from him, not even in our most intimate moments.

“I need you to trust me,” he said. “Everything I’ve done is to keep you safe, even if you hate me for it. Justpleaseif you need to go anywhere to track down this prophecy, ask me. I will go with you. It doesn’t have to be me, ask anyone, but for all things holy don’t do this by yourself. Please.”

With that, Asher released his grip from me and dashed past me. I blinked in a daze, listening to his footsteps disappear as my brain and body struggled to cooperate again.

Hecate stared at me from the counter, right behind where Asher had stood a moment ago. Then she padded up to me and reached up on her hind legs to paw at my chin.

“What wasthatabout?”

Hecate raised a good question, but no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t come to any conclusions.

Had Asher inferred that he had broken us up because he thought I was in danger? How did that work? Or had I missed the point completely?

I lay awake until the sun came up, the memory of our kiss distracting me from reaching any conclusion about what he had told me that night. All I could conclude was that he had suddenly decided he wanted to help me discover my prophecy, which was news to me given that he had tried to discourage me when we were together. And that somehow us being apart was safer? None of it made sense.

Hecate hadn't garnered any new information either when I asked her. I had wondered if, during her telling him why we had broken into the Franklin home, she had gotten even the slightest hint about his motivations. But she hadn't noticed anything while talking to him through her weird spiritual telepathy.

As the sun rose, I toyed with the idea of marching down to his room and demanding answers, but the idea of being alone with him in his room made me stop. After last night, were we in danger of having another moment like we did in the kitchen? I shoved my pyjama sleeve into my mouth and bit down. Not that I wouldn't have killed to have another night with Asher, but working out his secrets was more important than all that. Unfortunately.

Instead, I fell into a shallow sleep for a few hours until Priya knocked on my door to wake me up for breakfast. I trudged downstairs with Hecate, still in my pyjamas, and held my breath before I stepped into the kitchen. But when I searched for Asher at the breakfast table, I couldn't find him.

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