Page 36 of The Red Woman and the White Bear

But it was the realization that her own feelings had grown deeper than mere manipulation that struck her with force. Her chest tightened; she was drowning in this ocean of unacknowledged emotions, unable to come up for air without another wave crashing over her head. All along, they’d only been using each other, and once again, she felt like a fool for thinking she could have possibly held the upper hand. She’d not only lost it to Kael, but to her owntraitorous heart.

She should run; she needed to run. She could make it back to the library before she was caught. But from somewhere within that choking wash of emotions, anger rose unbidden. Instead of turning to run, Aisling stepped out from the shadows into the king’s path.

“You were meant to remain in the library,” Kael growled at the girl now standing before him in the corridor, feet bare and eyes blazing. Already his blood seared with magic, so provoked that he could hardly contain it, and now he had to face down yet another challenger. He ground his teeth together so hard his jaw ached, but it paled in comparison to the pain coursing through the rest of his body.

“I didn’t,” she said. Then, “So this is what you’ve been trying to learn? How to use me, like you did during the ritual?”

Kael gave a tight nod; he couldn’t lie. She was no longer blind to the truth, though she understood precious little of it. The Prelates had spun her survival as his tether into something of an obsession within his court. As much as he wanted to deny it, the temptation ofwhat Werryn suggested was a siren’s call that he couldn’t completely ignore. And like the Prelates, Aisling couldn’t fathom the weight of responsibility that rested upon his shoulders. That had rested there for centuries.

When he didn’t respond, she advanced toward him. “You would kill me—for what? To forge yourself into an even greater weapon? Are you not already capable of enough destruction on your own that you have to pull me into it, too?”

The tension in the space was palpable, crackling between the two as they faced each other down. Aisling’s words were like arrows that struck Kael’s embattled walls again and again. He clenched his fists at his sides as surges of power pulsed through him.

“You think you know about my magic.” The bitterness of his retort felt sharp on his tongue. “You’re nothing more than a naïve little girl.”

Her humorless laugh was a cold, stinging melody. “And here I thought you found it endearing.”

He did. Kael’s eyes flickered to her lips, pursed in an expression of stubborn defiance, and he found himself wondering for one fleeting moment what they would feel like pressed against his neck. The thought at once both soothed and frightened him, which only incensed him further.

“You may possess the ability to change the fate of my court, to tip the scales back in our favor. Why should I waste such an opportunity?” Kael demanded. Though the question was directed at the girl, it was his own mind that shot back an answer:you shouldn’t.

The insistent murmur was a reminder of the relentless ambition that had been instilled in him since boyhood. It was a crown of thorns that he wore willingly, but it was not without its painful punctures. Aisling’s presence, and whatever power she held over his magic, seemed a beacon in the darkness.

Yet even as he rationalized the practicality of his intentions, another voice stirred within him—a voice that he had suppressed for too long. It whispered of desires beyond strategy, of a longing for something that defied calculations and tactics. Kael had grown accustomed to viewing his court and its inhabitants as pieces on a vast war table. But Aisling was beyond all of that; she had managed to insinuate herself into the uncharted territory within him. The dissonance was stark in the clash between the role he was expected to uphold and the ache for something raw, untamed, and utterly uncertain.

Aisling didn’t flinch, didn’t back down. Instead, she continued to hold his gaze with unwavering resolve. “I won’t be used to kill,” she declared. “You can’t control me.”

“I must consider what is best for my court,” Kael said, his voice tinged with regret he couldn’t conceal. His words were a declaration to himself as much as they were to her. “But it is not you who would be controlled.”

Aisling’s glare softened, just, before she blinked that softness quickly away. “You can be better.”

The challenge hung in the air between them, a gauntlet thrown down that Kael couldn’t ignore. It was a provocation.Or, perhaps, an invitation. It was his breaking point. And his restraint finally shattered.

Kael didn’t think as he stepped forward until there was nothing but a breath of air between their bodies. He didn’t think when he reached out for her, either, and cupped her cheek, or when he brought his lips crashing down onto hers in a fierce and fiery collision.

It was a kiss borne of frustration, of anger, of a passion that had long simmered beneath the surface. His feelings for Aisling had grown stronger with each passing night, with each stubborn exchange and silent walk through the Undercastle. They had defied all of his attempts to rein them in.

Aisling responded with equal fervor, her fingers curling into the fabric of his tunic as she pulled him in tighter, closing the distance between defiance and desire. The searing kiss flooded his lungs with air; when she inhaled, he did too. And the world around them faded into absolute insignificance.

This time felt different from the lustful, honey wine-fueled kisses he’d shared with her when she’d been glamoured. This kiss reached out to something deeper inside of Kael, something he’d thought unreachable. She was warm, so warm, at the points where she pressed against him, and that warmth seeped through his skin to settle in his bones. He smothered the hot flare of desire that rose in him when he felt her body so close to his and swallowed back the words he wished he could say.

But Kael could tell by the way she looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes that she felt it, too.

“Where are your shoes?” he murmured against her soft lips before capturing them again with his own. His hands on her waist itched to move, to explore her body, but he held them still.

She gestured blindly toward the library without breaking their contact.

It was only with great effort that he did so himself, drawing back to hold her at arm’s length. When he did, it was only because he heard footsteps down the corridor that brought him back into reality. “Go get them, I want to take you somewhere.”

“Where?” The word was just a breath; she looked unsteady on her feet.

“Away from here.”

Reeling, Kael waited for her. He braced himself against the wall, focusing on the texture of it beneath his palm, trying to come back down from wherever that kiss had sent him.

Aisling returned quickly, hopping on one foot as she pulled the other slipper on. Once she was back at his side, he faltered. In the time it took her to jog to the library and back, doubt crept in, with hesitation alongside it.

Until she smiled.

---