Page 129 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
“More than that.” I thought he was going to kiss the back of my hand, but he flipped it over and bit the inside of my wrist, sending a shock of awareness through my whole body. “Try again.”
“What more do you want?” I shot back.
He dropped my hand and stood up. One step took him past the table’s edge, directly beside me. He leaned down and kissed my cheek softly. “Let’s find out together. It’s time to get going.”
“You can’t just—There needs to be rules, Julian!” I sputtered, pushing my chair back and coming to my feet. I poked him hard in the chest. “You can’t just do whatever you want and apologize when you go too far. We need boundaries.”
He smiled. “Like what?”
“Public displays of affection,” I stated. “Don’t kiss me in public.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Because,” I replied.
“What else?” he asked, seeming to accept my request.
“You can’t interfere with my work,” I told him. “As a bridge troll or as Madame Potts. And, and …”
“And?”
“And,” I said, “you should tell me what you actually want!”
“Alright.” Julian reached an arm around my waist and pulled me into his embrace. I let him. His free hand reached up to cup my cheek as he leaned down and kissed me. He wasn’t gentle, and I could feel one of my tusks scrape his lip when I gasped for air. His tongue slipped into my mouth to deepen the exchange. The hand around my waist pressed me tight against him, and I could feel how much he wanted me.
And then he broke the kiss.
“As I said … I wantyou. To be with you. To kiss you.” Straightening, he licked the blood off his cut lip. “I don’t want anyone else seeing you like this.”
“Jealous much?” My cheeks burned hot as I glared at him. “Who elsewould?”
Julian looked like he wanted to reply but thought better of it.
“We can work the rest out later …” He straightened, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “I didn’t exactly tell my people that I wasn’t coming back last night.”
“Fine.” With that, I portaled us back to the bridge at Fell. It was still early morning, though the summer sun was already bright in the eastern sky.
“You’re back!”
Before either of us could get our bearings, an almost crying Sir Tully lunged towards us. Julian, still holding me around the waist, brought up one arm toshield me. In fact, by the light shimmer of magic in the air, he’d erected an actual shield as well.
“What happened?” Julian’s face was back in an angry neutral frown.
I wanted to poke his cheek but resisted.
I was strong.
“Visha made me wait for you here. All night!” The human slouched, looking worse for wear.
“Is that all?” Julian replied, heartless.
“Fell is the last comfortable bed I will see in months!” Sir Tully looked up at the sky. His propensity for the overdramatic made him endearing, but sometimes, there were places to be and things to do. I asked, “Did Visha tell you the plan, Sir Tully? Where is everyone?”
He waved back toward the large city wall that encircled Fell. “The plan was to bring you back to the inn last night or meet up for breakfast at the Piping Gorse. After that, check over the horses and ride out.”
I nodded. “You both go ahead. I have a few things to take care of.”
Julian’s arm tightened around me for only a second before he let go and stepped back. “Assassins?”
