Page 74 of Shadows of Ruin

She nodded. “I can’t. I don’t know if I can trust you completely. You clearly have other duties here. I live in an entirely different world. It could never work. Besides, you almost kissed someone else.”

I stared at her. Was that what made her flee? Did she think I could stand the thought of someone else touching me? “That almost sounds like you care.”

Her eyes flared before narrowing on me.

I couldn’t help but smile as I lifted her chin with my forefinger. “I don’t know why, but your jealousy makes me want to do terrible things, Little Rebel.” I took one last step, closing all space between us as her back pressed into the wall. “Delicious things.”

She shoved me in the chest, pushing me away. “I should hate you.”

Her soft floral scent washed over me, making me instantly fucking hard. I’d noticed it the first time I stood close to her, and now, it haunted me. The intoxicating sweet smell lingering on her skin as if she’d just walked through a damn garden. It reminded me of spending time out here back when my mother was still living.

Lana had no idea the pull I felt toward her, the desire. It was a damn miracle I could function in her presence.

I’d shoved it all down since we fled Ellevail, suffering as I deserved until that spark of hope ignited tonight.

“Having you here, seeing you with my father today, I panicked. I thought maybe I'd show my own indifference. I danced with everyone he wanted me to, hoping it might take his focus from you. I have been fucking terrified thinking about what he said to you, thinking about what happened today. When you showed up at the battle with him, I thought I might destroy the entire colosseum.”

She frowned. “Why?”

How could she not see it? Feel this?

I sighed, running a hand through my hair and stepping farther away, giving her more space. “He could hurt you with no remorse. I’m trying to protect you. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

She shifted against the wall. “Maybe you should have thought about that before dragging me here.”

“You’re right.”

Lana blinked, surprise flittering on her face. “Well, maybethis birthday isn’t total shit after all. Hearing you say I’m right was as good as any gift.”

“Birthday?” I asked, horrified at how she had to spend her day.

She nodded. “Twenty-third.” She ran her hands over her arms, rubbing them gently.

My shadows crawled up, copying the movements, and she smiled down at them.

“Well, I'll need to get you a gift, obviously,” I teased. “What would the Princess of Brookmere want most?”

Leaning her head against the wall, she closed her eyes, worrying her lip between her teeth. Fuck, I wanted it to be my teeth on her lips.

“I want a distraction.” She sighed and looked at me again. “To not be in my head and worried or angry or grieving for one minute.”

I stepped toward her, willing to do all that and more, but she hesitated. The pause crossed her features, creasing her brow.

“You don’t trust me.” It wasn’t an accusation, merely me trying to gauge how best to give her what she wanted.

She pursed her lips. “I don’t know what I feel,” she whispered.

I looked at my shadows, still caressing her arms and wrapped around her legs, and smiled. “But you trust my shadows.”

She glanced down at them, her frown deepening. “I guess it’s— I know it’s strange, since they’re you, but I think we both know they have a mind of their own.”

I retreated to the railing of the balcony and leaned against it, settling in. Willing my shadows didn’t take much since they had always been drawn to her. One of the tendrils gliding up her arm shifted into a shadowy hand and grazed up and around her breast, to her neck and into her hair.

Lana let out a small gasp. Her damn perfect piercing blueeyes stared me down, daggers in their own right. I felt her gaze sear every part of me.

“I have an idea, Little Rebel,” I suggested. Fuck, my cock was hard, straining against my pants already, just thinking about what I could do to her. Doforher. “Do you want my shadows to give you your distraction?”

Another hand formed and caressed her stomach, while the shadows around her legs teased her dress higher.

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