Page 42 of Desire

“I’d like that.”

“Then stay awake,” I said.

Taking the cup, I returned to the cottage and started on another tea. They were all sporting various injuries again, though none as grave as Daemon's. Edmund was keeping an arm tucked close to his ribs. Brandle’s nose looked a bit crooked. And Liam was limping.

I tried to control my emotions as I worked but failed. My anger at Maeve and the men in the woods boiled inside of me. How dare they hurt another person I held dear? I refused to lose anyone else to her evil.

“Are you all right?” Garron asked.

“No. I am angry, Garron. So much so that I no longer care about the fates of the men in the woods. I simply want them gone. And that compounds my anger, for is that behavior not like every other ill-intentioned person? Does my anger over their actions give me the right to lash out at them in kind?”

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing.

“Hate and anger breed more hate and anger. Yet, how does one stop those determined to hurt others without causing harm themselves? I very much doubt politely asking them to go away will work.”

“You’re right. It likely wouldn’t. But you’re smart enough to know that taking lives is not the way to bring about peace either.”

Someone snorted from the doorway, and I looked to find Edmund leaning against the cottage just outside. With his back to us, it looked like he was guarding the door while also watching over his injured brothers.

“And you believe taking lives is the answer?” I asked.

He glanced back at me. “I wouldn’t hesitate to take a life if it meant protecting someone I love.”

My stomach sank, and guilt consumed me.

“Do you blame me for what happened to Daemon? Because I didn’t want any of them to die the last time they attacked?”

“No, Trouble. I blame them for their actions, not you.” Yet, he didn’t look at me when he spoke.

“Liar,” I whispered before turning back to the tea.

A few moments later, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and set his chin atop my head.

“I don’t blame you, Kellen,” he repeated. “I’m angry. Angry Daemon was hurt. Angry I can’t do anything to help. Angry that we’re stuck here in the glade and not—” He took a calming breath, and I turned in his arms to cup his face.

This close, I could see the storm he was desperately trying to hide from me.

“You’ve gotten better,” I said. “When you can’t stop the storm, redirect it to something safe. Kiss me, Edmund.”

Surprise lit his gaze a heartbeat before his lips crashed to mine. He released all the raw emotion he’d tried to contain and kissed me with a bruising intensity. I shouldn’t have liked it—his rough handling of me—but I did. It allowed me to kiss him back in kind. Angrily. Hungrily.Desperately.

He groaned into my mouth and lifted me off my feet. His hand guided my leg up, hooking it around his waist. My skirts stopped my other leg, and he growled as he pushed them up my thighs.

I broke off the kiss and looked down at him. His breathing was just as ragged as mine.

“Are you less angry?” I asked.

I knew he was when, rather than speak, his gaze dipped to my mouth again.

“Do you think she’d kiss me like that if I said I was angry, too?” Darian asked from the yard.

“Doubtful,” Daemon said. “But I’ll try it when I’m sleeping beside her tonight.”

Edmund groaned and set his forehead against mine. “Tell him to sleep with Darian.”

I laughed and untangled my legs from around Edmund’s waist. He reluctantly released me.

“The tea’s ready,” Garron said from behind me as soon as my feet touched the ground.

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