Page 44 of A World of Ruins

He knows I am goading him. My taunt practically makes his eyes brighten with pleasure as his head bobs while humming. He searches his trouser pockets for something before taking out a sharpened bone pick and waving it in front of us.

My eyes dart to the mound of bones by the side of his cage, and trepidation mixed with desire swims in my vision as I glance back at Darius. He’s smirking at me as he picks at the lock with the skills of a professional.

The gate clangs open and I stumble back, watching Darius exit the cell.

‘Darry, you are free!’ Tibith squeaks, earning a soft chuckle from Darius.

I shake my head, my jaw almost hanging wide open. ‘How did you—’

‘I figured out a few days ago that I am rather good at lock-picking.’ He eyes the bone pick before throwing it over his shoulder as he takes a step towards me, then another.

My feet shuffle backwards the closer he gets. ‘And yet you haven’t tried to escape.’ When there is no room left behind me except for an empty cell, I grab on to the bars. Darius, however, cages me in with both hands on either side of my head.

‘I’ve come to quite enjoy talking to you these days.’

‘So, you have willingly spent time inside this cell when you could have been out there, free?’ The thought is thrilling.

He grins. ‘Soundsludicrous, doesn’t it?’

Repeating that phrase turns me red as I watch the words roll from his lips in pure seductive bliss and find myself breathlessly saying, ‘Yes, truly inane. The Aerians would not be happy in the slightest.’ I attempt to sneak a peek elsewhere, but his gaze pulls me in; I can’t control it. I swallow. ‘Neither will Gus or Lorcan—’

‘Areyouhappy, though?’ He’s staring at my mouth, and I’m not sure how much longer I can restrain myself.

‘Delighted.’ The word comes out softer than I would have liked.

The answer excites him. He leans in and whispers against my ear, ‘So, if I were to kiss you, would you try to lock me back inside?’

Solaris.

‘I never wanted you to be locked in in the first place,’ I say equally quietly. ‘You just happened to infuriate almost everyone living inside the palace.’

He looks at me, and my legs almost buckle.

‘Tibith?’ He keeps his eyes fixed on me even as Tibith hums in response. ‘Close your eyes.’

I don’t look to see if Tibith has closed his eyes because the next thing I know is that my restraint is long gone, and I’m grabbing Darius by the neck of his shirt as his lips smack against mine in desperate need.

Three months is too long to have gone without feeling the touch of his lips.Three monthsis a crime against us, knowing that I do not want this moment to ever end.

My legs are sore and sensitive from being wedged between his, and yet we’re animals fighting to kiss each other harder. His hands are in my hair, rough and eager, making a groan sound low in his sternum.

He is kissing me as if he needs me in order to live. As if he thirsts for me.

His stubble scratches my face as our heads move to the motion of our lips. It doesn’t feel like enough, and he knows it just as much as I do. I’m greedy for more of him, for the taste and scent of his skin upon mine.

Until he breaks off the kiss, jerking away from me as if I have stabbed him right in the heart.

I’m breathing wildly, my chest heaving as my lips tingle at the loss of him.

He runs a hand over his mouth and shakes his head. I can’t tell what he is thinking; I can hardly think myself. All my mind keeps yelling is for him to tell me he remembers. To tell me our kissdidsomething.

‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

Five words – five words that ruin me.

He can’t look at me. He doesn’t want to.

I glance over at Tibith, his eyes wide and despondent as he stares at the both of us.

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