Page 70 of Fear the Flames
“Elowen, in all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never outright said someone was attractive without following it up with abut.”
“Yes, I have!”
“Someone that’s not fictional.” He levels me with a glare.
“Cayden is attractive, but he annoys me. There you go.”
“That just adds to the tension, darling.”
“Nothing can happen!” I shoot out, cheeks reddening. The kiss is replaying in my head at the worst moment.
“Just because something can’t happen doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.” Finnian looks like he’s about to shoot out of the chair in excitement. “You’re blushing! Look at you, you look like a strawberry.”
“Don’t compare me to fruit I love when you’re analyzing me against my will! You know feelings will only complicate things that are already messy to begin with.” I haven’t even formally signed alliance papers. I can’t imagine how awful it would be to be locked in an alliance with someone you’ve had a falling out with.
“Messy can be fun,” Finnian offers.
“Finnian!” I shout while dropping my head in my hands, just wanting him to stop talking about this.
“Elowen,” he drags out my name in a sing-song nature. It’s his gossip-prying tone.
My head whips up at the sound of the curtains to my room opening. Cayden strolls inside with his hands tucked into his pockets. His eyes dance between Finnian and me and narrow on the sight of my tear-streaked face. “Is the room to your liking?” Cayden asks.
Finnian leans forward and grabs a book from the coffee table. I’ve never seen him read a book, which makes his movements that much more ridiculous. He holds it up to his face and wiggles his brows. “How punctual,” Finnian mumbles into the pages.
I give him a pointed look that tells him to keep his mouth shut. “I never want to go back to the castle,” I say while hugging the lavender pillow to my chest. I feel more at home in this room than I do at the castle. This room feels even more like me than my room in Aestilian. We break eye contact when Finnian snorts. His shoulders shake with laughter as he clutches a pink clothbound book in his hands. Oh gods! He’s reading one of the romance books. Why couldn’t he have picked up a book on poisons?
Cayden’s satisfied look morphs into a mischievous grin, “I see someone is enjoying the selection of literature that comes with the room.”
“Your books have become far more graphic than when we were younger,” Finnian doubles over laughing while clutching the book. I scramble off the couch to grab it from him, along with the rest of the stack from the table. I bring them over to the couch and wrap my arms around the stack while flipping Finnian off, which only makes him laugh harder. “I’m sorry I interrupted your reading when I came in. That is some good stuff,” he says through his laughter.
“Calm down, you little smut-guarding vextree,” Cayden jests, grinning my way. I wish I was a vextree; I’d poison them both.
“She wasn’t reading smut yet. She didn’t have on her smut-reading face,” Finnian declares.
“She has a smut-reading face?” Cayden sounds far too intrigued for my comfort.
“I do not!” I jump to my feet, keeping my book stack behind me.
“It’s hilarious!” Finnian ignores my protests and turns his body to face Cayden. “She always turns as red as a tomato, but sometimes, she’ll dart her eyes around the room to make sure nobody is reading over her shoulder. She also squeals and kicks her legs in the air—my personal favorite.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I feign ignorance and do my best to appear unbothered. Yes, I’m fully aware I just did Finnian’s favorite move while I was on my bed, but Cayden doesn’t need to know that.
“Let’s test it out,” Cayden says, pivoting on his heels and striding over to my bed.
No.
He flips the book open to the page I’m on.
No. No. No.
The characters were about to have a moment! I’ve gone through too much pining for him to ruin their moment like this. His face breaks out into a smile after he flips forward a few pages.
“This was one of my favorites,” Cayden declares, never taking his eyes off the book as I advance on him. He tilts his head up, so he’s able to continue reading while I attempt to climb him like a bear climbs a tree. He shoves my legs down when I try to hook them around his waist.
“I’m not above biting you,” I grit out, struggling against him.
“Don’t tease me with empty promises, angel,” he says through his laughter.
