Page 98 of Shadow Caster
I leaned in, tilting my face to his so our lips were mere centimeters apart. “Archer.”
His eyes darkened with dangerous hunger, and then he broke for me with a low growl. His hand came up to tangle in my hair, fingers cupping my scalp, and his lips claimed mine in open-mouthed carnal kisses that seared me. Tongue and teeth and wanton need bubbled between us, and then I was kissing air.
Hyde stood on the other side of the room with his back to me. “Fuck,” he said softly.
“I wish.”
“No.” He shook his head. “This didn’t happen. The kiss in the cave didn’t happen.”
But they had, and I could still taste him on my throbbing mouth. “Archer.”
His shoulders rippled with tension. “Master Hyde.” He turned to me, his mouth swollen from my kiss. “I’m your tutor, that’s all I can be. That’s all I want to be. Do you understand?”
The euphoria in my chest dissipated, and the arguments died on my lips because he didn’t want this … this thing between us. This unwanted attraction was tearing him apart.
He puffed out his cheeks. “This isn’t why I came in here. I didn’t come here to …”
“I know that.” Fuck, I couldn’t look at him. Not without my heart shining out of my eyes.
This wasn’t me. I wasn’t a romantic. I didn’t lose my heart. I fucked, fed, and moved on. How could this be happening to me? How could this hurt so much in such a short space of time?
Hyde cleared his throat. “Master Payne would like to work with you on your shadow phasing, to figure out how it works, and how you can utilize it without hurting yourself.”
Back to business then. Fine. I could do that.
I nodded. “Okay.” I crossed my arms. “Anything else?”
He looked pained but continued. “Mist duty continues, but Henrich, the shadow master, has decided that due to the small number of cadets in year one, and the increased raiding activity of the fomorians, you should all be fast-tracked and amalgamated into the second year.”
“What?”
“You’ll be starting classes at the fortress after the term break,” he said.
My heart pumped faster at the news. The fortress … We’d be getting to study there?
“Which also means I’ll be handing over most of your training to Master Venrick,” Hyde continued. “He’s a veteran shadow knight, and a good friend of mine.”
My heart sank and anger licked at my chest. I didn’t bother to hide my disgruntlement. “So, you won’t be training me anymore.”
It was as if he was punishing me for this attraction that simmered between us. As if it was all my fault.
He closed his eyes and exhaled. “You don’t need me, Indigo. You may be rash, and impulsive at times, but you saved a lot of lives today. I’m proud of you.”
And just like that, the anger melted. Damn him. I stared at him, raking my gaze over his beautifully scarred face, heart squeezing painfully and throat pinching.
“Thank you.”
The air between us crackled with tension and the magnetic pull that came from an inexorable attraction. An attraction I couldn’t deny, and one he didn’t want.
Hyde took a shuddering breath and deliberately moved farther away from me. “Get some rest, Justice. The term may be over, but shadow cadets don’t get any time off. Mist duty starts tomorrow.”
And then he was gone.
* * *
Lloyd’s troop,Harmon, Thomas, and I sat around the lounge drinking cocoa made by Lloyd. There was a shroud of reflective silence.
“She didn’t know me,” Lloyd said. “I went to see her, and she looked at me like I was a stranger.”
