Page 79 of The Scarlet Star

“Heva—” Ryn’s cry was cut off when Damon took both sides of her head and pushed his mouth over hers. Ryn shrieked in protest, hot tears forming behind her squeezed eyelids. She pulled at his hands, kicking at his shin, andfinally, he tore back with a grunt, grabbing her wrist in the same motion as she tried to slap him and slamming it against the tree trunk. His dark lips curled up as she gaped at him in disgust.

“I adore you too, Lady Estheryn,” he shouted into the night. “But you cannot keep persuading me to meet you like this in secret…” Damon glanced to the left, and his words trailed off, a strange look coming over him.

Xerxes stood there, capturing the first traces of moonlight. His royal coat was covered in twigs and leaves, his chest rising and falling, his breath steaming in the cool air.

Ryn’s lips burned, revulsion sinking through her along with horror at what Xerxes would have just seen. Damon’s nails dug into her arms, but she didn’t move a muscle.

Xerxes’s glare hovered on Damon and Ryn beneath the tree. She wanted to shout at him, to beg him not to believe what he’d just witnessed. But all she knew was the heat of tears rolling down her face. She was done for because of this crime, forget being an Adriel.

Damon leaned and looked past the King, searching for something in the trees.

“X… Xerxes,” Ryn finally rasped out, but he ignored her.

“Damon,” Xerxes said calmly, and Damon dragged his attention back. “Leave before I tear you to a thousand pieces and scatter them across this garden.”

Damon released an exasperated huff. “Your Majesty—this maiden pressured me to—”

Xerxes took a step toward him, and Damon ripped himself back from Ryn, nearly stumbling over himself. The intimidating Intelligentsia Ryn had seen a moment ago vanished.

“Wait!” Damon tried, raising his hands. “You witnessed it! You know how this works now—It’ll be my word against hers,” he reminded the King. “That’s how it is before the council’s judgments.”

Xerxes took another careful step toward him. His skin was damp and his cheeks were pale, almost gray. Ryn pressed back further against the tree. “No,” Xerxes said. “It will be your word againstmine.”

Damon’s face fell. He moved away.

“I’ll give you three seconds before I start chasing you,” Xerxes promised.

It was enough. Damon turned and rushed into the garden, his dark robe flapping at his back. Ryn watched him until he was lost to the vine-covered trees.

Xerxes’s gaze snapped toward Ryn, and she grabbed the bark at her back.

“If you ever see me and my flesh is deathly pale and gray, and my skin glimmers with moisture… Run.”

“Xerxes,” she whispered.

Rustling lifted in the garden a short distance away, along with muted voices. Ryn wondered if they would hear her if she screamed. If they would even come help her.

“I didn’t do that with him… with Damon,” she stammered. “I know I’m a Heartstealer—I would never—”

“Stop, Ryn. I’ll fix this.” Xerxes took four steps toward her, the shadow of the tree swallowing him. “Make it look real,” he whispered as he brought himself nearly against her. He inhaled, his gaze tracing her face, finding her lips. He exhaled.

He kissed her.

Xerxes’s warmth spilled in, erasing the chill on Ryn’s skin. He wasn’t aggressive; he moved carefully. His hands brushed over her cheeks, swiping off the tears there, then moved into her hair, delicately taking hold of her head to tilt her face to his.

“Who is that? Is that a maiden of the Heartstealer trials?!” a voice boomed over the garden, and Ryn flinched. Xerxes slowly took his mouth off hers. His dark lashes were pointed downward. He stared at her mouth. He swallowed.

“Arrest them!” the voice in the garden shouted. “This is punishable by—”

Xerxes turned and stepped from the tree’s shadow, making the voice stagger to a halt. Two members of the Intelligentsia and six Folke filled the garden. The Intelligentsia man at the front gaped at Xerxes, his mouth hanging open like he was seeing a ghost.

“Are you going to arrest me for being with one of my maidens?” Xerxes asked. “Isn’t this exactly what you all want me to be doing?”

The Intelligentsia man didn’t blink, didn’t speak. The Folke guards looked uncomfortable—a few of them glanced off at random shrubs or a passing leaf blowing in the wind. Ryn knew they could recognize her in the dark, but she was grateful to be in the tree’s shadow in this moment.

“What’s the matter? Did you hear a rumour this maiden was out here with a man?” Xerxes asked. He rolled his eyes. “You’ve seen me, now leave. And, by the Divinities, don’t bother us anymore,” Xerxes said.

The Folke bowed in obedience and turned away, rushing back through the flowers. It took the Intelligentsia a few more seconds to move, but they too turned their backs to the King and left. The two of them whispered between themselves until they were out of sight, abandoning the garden to a quiet, still state with only bushes and treetops ruffling in the breeze.

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