Page 105 of Gemini Kings
That is when his vicious backhand connects with my face, with all his coiling viperish strength behind the blow.
My sight is obliterated in a flash of crimson pain.
That blow rocks me back in my chair, reeling with a force that makes my ears ring.
“Ouch, damn it,” I groan, one hand rising to grope gingerly at my throbbing cheek. “Jesus Christ, Vasili…”
“What the fuck?” he pants, dragging an unsteady hand across his lips. All his lip gloss is gone (no doubt it is now smeared all over me) and his hair and clothing are all disheveled from my touch.
He is all undone, all due to me.
Despite the terrible peril of this moment, I am ferociously pleased.
“What the fuckwas that?” he demands, somehow both icy and raging, righting his clothing with sharp furious tugs. “Some pathetic, homophobic attempt at mockery, what?” He pauses for my nonexistent answer, then rushes ahead. “You’re exceedingly fortunate I only slapped you. And I may well still crush you against the floor like a cockroach. I asked you a question, and I fully expect an answer. What. Was. That.”
“Not… not mockery.” Shaking my head (which makes my face throb worse), my ears still ringing, I push unsteadily to my feet.
Warily he backs away, keeping plenty of distance between us. I am so hard for him, so absolutely rigid, that I have to shift about awkwardly and adjust my physiology down below.
A flash of comprehension widens his gaze.
“Oh dear God, you’re in rut,” he says in absolute disgust. “Of course.That’swhat all this nonsense is about. You and that rutting dragon of yours are so pathetically horny you’ve lost your scaly minds. You’re both so far gone that even a queer boy like me, with a cock and a hole, briefly holds some perverse appeal, despite the fact that you’re fuckingstraight. I’d advise you to find some girl to fuck, but I can’t imagine who’d have you.”
I want to say no, you’re wrong, there is more than that between us, Vasili. There is so much more.
But I am frozen by the icy contempt that frosts his tone. I forced myself upon him when, all too clearly, he does not want me.
Now I am shamed into silence.
“Just stay away from Zara. Stay away from her and all my mates. Consider yourself warned. She isn’t ready for this—for you. None of us are ready.” My enemy flashes me a final venomous glare, buttons his jacket tight around his narrow waist, and spins away. Now I can barely hear him. “I’m not certain any of us will ever be ready.”
Our lesson is not yet over, but clearly he is finished with me for the day, if not for all time. What will I do if he refuses to tutor me for insulting him like this? Will they send me away? Back to my Lady Mother?
If they do, surely it will be no more than I deserve.
Briskly he sweeps his books and notes into a stylish leather satchel. This gives him a handy excuse to avoid looking at me. I know he is sharply aware of me, the same painful way I am aware of him, as I stuff my notebook helter-skelter into my backpack and bolt for the stairs. My thoughts are tangled in knots, my cheek is throbbing like blazes from his blistering backhand, and he did not even answer my question about the sailor.
I am already on the stairs when I stumble to a stop. Truly, I have made such a catastrophic mess of this entire shameful encounter that I might as well spill the rest.
Hesitant, I glance at him over my shoulder. “Vasili.”
Wary as fuck, he slices me a dangerous look over his satchel. “Maxim.”
At least I have achieved this small victory. He no longer addresses me like a child. I drag in a bracing breath, steel my gut against the blow, and set the truth free.
“It was never the sailor,” I tell him gruffly. “It was you. For me, it has always been you.”
He snatches in an audible breath.
His jaw drops and his eyes ignite. Something fractures in his face, and something fractures in my soul.
If I were not in this church, I would spread my wings and take flight. Caged by this mortal structure, I launch furiously down the stairs at a run. I flee to spare him the need to reply.
I flee to spare myself the whiplash pain of my shame and his scorn.
I flee to spare my dragon and myself the certain scourge of his rejection.
Chapter Nineteen
