Page 113 of Unbound

That draws a chuckle from me. "Good? Why is that good, Raith?"

"It's just good." He stands suddenly. "Come on. I'm walking you back to your room."

"You are?"

"I just had to rush to a random classroom, burn down a door, and nearly fight a small-scale battle to stop Malakai and Serena from murdering you after learning two fires I thought I could trust had turned on me. So, yes, I'm walking you to your fucking room."

I try to ignore the swirl of pleasant, but confusing emotions his words trigger and the way my heart flutters wildly in my chest. "Okay," I say.

We walk in silence for a few moments before I blurt a question that has been on my mind for weeks. "Were you born in Red Kingdom?"

Raith pauses in the shadows of a corridor. It's several seconds before he answers. "Yes."

My throat goes dry, pulse quickening. The admission would be enough to get him thrown behind bars or worse. I know that much. Despite my pounding heart, I push for more. "Are you here to... hurt Empire somehow?"

"No."

I swallow hard. "Then why?"

His eyes are dark as he stares at nothing, memories seeming to swirl just behind his vision. "The less you know, the safer you are. But I can at least say I'm not… here to hurt Empire. My loyalty isn't to Red Kingdom, either."

"Then why would it be dangerous for me to know more? I don't understand."

There's another long pause, as if it goes against everything in his nature to answer my question.

"Because I'm supposed to be dead. Only a handful of people know I'm not, and if they found out I was alive. Hells, if they knew I was here? They'd burn this whole fucking place down if they could. Anybody and everybody I cared about would be ash, too. So I can't tell you more. I can't... I can't care about you, because then it would be my fault if they found me. It would be my fault that they'd come after you. Hurt you because of me. And I won't have that."

The barely controlled emotion in his voice breaks my heart. I open my mouth to say something, but no words seem to capture what I'm feeling. All this time, I don't know what I thought, but now I can at least see enough to understand.

He didn't try to shut me out after the kiss because he didn't want me.

He has been trying to shut me out because hedoeswant me. And he thinks letting himself want me would get me killed.

"Raith..." I finally say, voice barely a whisper. "I'm already in danger from more things I can count. Malakai and Serena want me dead. Everybody who was just in that room knows about Typhon now, and if they think I'm a threat to them, they'll probably want to kill me when my guard is down. Bastian knows, and he says Empire is coming to watch the Crucible, so if I have to reveal Typhon to save myself, they'll know too. And I'm fucking unbound, whatever that even means. I don't think you could put me in more danger than I'm already in if you tried. So can't we at least just... be whatever it is our hearts want us to be?"

His hand lifts as if he's about to cup my face, but he frowns and pulls it away, shaking his head. "Yes, you're in danger already. But I'm doing everything I can to protect you from it. If Empire's going to be watching during the Crucible, then we'll just have to make sure you don't need to reveal what you are. We'll stop anybody who comes for you. Simple as that."

"I don't know how I'm going to survive, Raith. Even with your help. Even with Bastian's help... It feels like death is coming at me from so many angles I can't keep track of it all. I'm scared. I know I shouldn't admit it, but I am." My voice breaks on the last words. "And if I'm going to die, can't I at least have one thing I want before I do?" My eyes hold his, and I see the conflict there. The hunger. The need.

He licks his lips, eyes falling to my mouth. "And what is it... What do you want so badly?"

"You," I breathe. "Gods, Raith. Isn't it fucking obvious already? Can't you see how?—"

He's kissing me before I can take another breath. It's a desperate kiss, all heat and hunger. His big hands are on my body, squeezing and gripping me greedily as he pushes himself against me and lifting me like I weigh nothing—pressing my back against a stone pillar and spreading my legs around his waist.

The thin fabric of our uniforms does nothing to hide the perfect shape of him against me or the heat of his friction as our bodies press together. Every point of contact sends sparks of fire magic through my skin—his essence burning into me, tasting of smoke and cinnamon and raw power.

The red-hot magic flowing from his body swirls in a delicious mixture that rushes beneath my skin and fills me in a way that has me moaning against his lips. "Oh, Gods," I gasp.

His lips are perfect and soft against mine, but the kiss is hard and his hands are so strong, gripping my thighs with a possession that makes me dizzy. His tongue teases mine as it slides into my mouth, swirling and claiming with a need that makes my entire body tremble.

I thread my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer, desperate to erase any space between us. He growls against my mouth, the sound vibrating through my chest and igniting a fire low in my belly. His hips rock against mine, and I can feel exactly how much he wants me as it presses hard between my legs.

"Nessa," he groans against my mouth, one hand sliding up to cup my face. His thumb strokes my cheek, surprisingly gentle for how tightly his other hand grips my hip. The contrast sends shivers down my spine.

I break the kiss, gasping for air, and his mouth immediately finds my neck, teeth grazing the sensitive skin beneath my ear before trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down to my collarbone. Every touch brands me, makes my skin prickle with heat.

"Raith," I manage, my voice a breathy moan as his hand slides under the hem of my shirt, fingers splaying across the bare skin of my back.

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