Page 46 of A World of Ruins

As I set him on the grass, he wobbles on his feet, looking unsteady after the ride, before he ends up falling flat on his bottom. I turn to look at Darius as his feet land on the ground. His hair is windswept, which makes me want to run my hands through it and mess it up even more.

Grinning, I say to him, ‘I win.’

He chuckles, peeling the leather gloves I gave him off his fingers. ‘So, how did you learn to ride a dragon?’

I rub Fernah below her snout and she purrs. ‘I didn’t until I came here. I had only ever ridden a dragon once before Fernah.’ My gaze shifts over to Darius. ‘And that dragon was you.’

He lifts a brow, giving me an expectant look as he smirks.

I roll my eyes. ‘Glad to know that your shameless thoughts have never left.’

‘Well, did you enjoy it?’ he asks, and my cheeks flame bright red. His grin is the most mischievous I have ever seen come from him as he crosses his arms over his broad chest, the muscles practically ripping his shirt apart. My heart quickens. ‘When I took you out flying, I mean.’

I cough, attempting to clear my throat. It hardly works. ‘You dropped me,’ I deadpan. ‘On purpose.’

He finds the thought thoroughly amusing as he tips his head back and laughs. The vision soothes me, and I chuckle alongside him. It is like we are back to our old selves for just a short second. One in which Darius has his memories back, and I’m content with him.

I storm up to him and try to smack him across the chest, but he captures my hand and rests it against his heart. I swallow back my laugh, almost choking as I stare up at him.

Darius watches my reaction and gorges on it like it is a feast as I glance at the position of our hands and feel the soft beat of his heart beneath my palm.

Am I lying now, Goldie?

The night before his capture back in Emberwell slips into my mind, just as it has done so many times in the past. He would do this whenever he wanted to prove something. Now, I do not care what he has to prove because all that matters is that I can feel it, that I can touch him and know he is real; he is here with me, and he is trying.

He closes the gap between us with a single step. My hand stays on his chest, but my breathing stops as he hooks his finger around the coin necklace and stares at it.

It’s your birthday gift.

I was irreversibly in love with you. I am irreversibly in love with you, Nara.

My body shivers at his attention and the crease along his forehead as he studies the coin. It is a similar look to the one he gave me the first day he was here. The look where he knew this meant something more than his mind was letting him remember.

‘It’s not just any coin,’ I utter, my mouth parched as his gaze flicks up to meet mine. ‘It’s a gold coin.’ I offer a smile, hoping he recalls the significance from all those years ago when I handed him this very coin.

The corner of his mouth starts to lift, and I can’t help but mirror his expression.

‘Shit.’ My smile falls as soon as I spot Gus shifting into human form at the edge of the cliff and marching towards us, looking as if he is ready to kick up a storm with me. The added wind surrounds him as it blows his shawl and hair, reminding me of the times Idris would show up with the same furious expression.

Darius goes to take a step in front of me, but I stop him with a shake of my head.

‘Do you have any idea how worried I was when I went to check the cells and found the door open and you and Darius both gone?’ Gus is seething, completely, utterly mad.

‘I know—’

‘Idris is this close to forming a fleet to return to Emberwell, thinking you are there.’ His thumb and forefinger, barely touching as he shows me, are enough to imagine.

‘You needn’t worry,’ Darius says, a smirk moulding his lips. ‘She is in safe hands.’

Gus’s gaze shifts from me to Darius, his brows rising in disbelief. ‘Safe hands?’ he scoffs. ‘Please, you are hardly to be trusted right now.’

Darius clicks his tongue, touching his heart as if to say Gus’s comment wounded him. Yet it’s clear that this is his way of playfully messing with him.

Gus looks sternly at him, and I tug at his arm, ushering us away from Darius as I guide him to the cliff’s edge.

He is shaking his head by the time we stop walking and I face him. ‘Whatever your reason may be—’

‘He is making progress,’ I tell him quietly, glancing back at Darius to check on him as he crouches down to talk to Tibith. Clearing my throat as I see him staring at us, I say to Gus, ‘I think the reason why he might stop himself from wanting to remember is that Aurum’s influence is too strong.’

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