Page 28 of A Kiss of Embers
“No!” she gasped as she smacked his shoulder. “Stop laughing. This isn’t amusing. I’m trying to kill you.”
Yet, even as she spoke the words, a giggle tumbled out of her mouth, and she slapped a muddied hand over her face as if in an attempt to quell the sound.
A soft smile pulled against his lips as he grasped Seraphina’s hands and pulled them away from her face. And then he proceeded to wipe the mud from her cheeks and chin, followed by her armored shoulders. The scales were rough against his fingers, the edges pointed and beautiful.
The tension took a sharp turn as his hands trailed down her arms to her palms, and then he lightly touched the tips of her fingers. He watched as rapid breaths escaped her mouth, as her throat bobbed with a swallow, as her red-black lips parted beneath his stare.
The Ember Queen was his enemy. But for a moment, he couldn’t help but imagine a world in which she wasn’t. What if instead of fighting with one another, relationships between their people flourished? What if their people traded wares instead of blows? What if their people laughed with one another and created lasting friendships?
Of course, it wasn’t reality. But what if, one day, it could happen?
“I think I won,” Bastien murmured in the thick, charged silence. “You’ve been pinned for more than ten seconds.”
She laughed again and shook her head wryly as she pushed him off her and stood. He couldn’t help but watch as she spread her wings, now back to their previous green and brown hue. Mud flaked off the thin membrane, and he found himself mesmerized by their unique leaf-like patterns and the crisp, golden shimmer lining the edges.
“You can hardly call that winning.” She rolled her eyes. “I could have felled you within seconds with a well-aimed knee to your crotch.”
“But you didn’t,” he pointed out, subconsciously shielding himself with one leg. “Thank you for that.” And then he nodded toward her back. “Your wings.”
She glanced behind her, following his gaze, to also take in the shades of green, orange, and gold. “Camouflage,” she answered. “My wings transition with the changing seasons. Even if one of those seasons comes far too early.” She laced her words with dry annoyance. Thankfully, most of the snow had melted.
Within moments, her expression once again became guarded as she edged toward her sash and strapped it around her waist. They stood silently while assessing each other. One single question lay heavy in the air.
What now?
“Are you hungry?” he asked, and her eyebrows shot up upon taking her off guard with his inquiry.
“We need to settle this.” She gestured between the two of them and fingered the dart gun on her hip.
There was no way in the seven suns he planned to get pricked with one of those despicable poisons again. But something had changed between them in the past day. He couldn’t abandon her now.
“There is nothing to settle. I refuse to get dragged any farther, and we both are nearly unrecognizable. First, a bath. Then a meal.”
“I will not turn my back to you while I bathe.”
He raised a suggestive eyebrow and grinned. “By all means, turn your front to me.”
Seraphina scowled and crossed her arms, bringing his attention to her—ahem—hands. “I cannot trust you for a single moment. Never forget we are enemies.”
“You saved my life, and then you kissed me. If we are still enemies, why did you do it? All you need is my dead body. You don’t truly need me alive if you are resourceful.”
Slowly, her arms dropped to her sides as she gazed back at him with a troubled expression. “Are we being candid?”
He nodded.
She continued. “You and I…we are more similar than you might think. I suppose I didn’t want to leave you helpless.”
“Plus, you kinda like me. Admit it.” He waggled his eyebrows in an attempt to irk her. But instead of a scowl, she simply stared back at him with another troubled expression etched into the worry lines of her face. Suddenly, she looked far older than…
Actually, he wasn’t sure how old she was.
“Tell me your age,” he said as she did, indeed, turn her back to him and tromped down a path parallel to a small stream. He followed after like the fool he was. His father always said his stupidity was going to get him killed one day.
“Twenty-five.”
His lips twitched as he stepped over a puddle of mud before he realized keeping himself clean didn’t matter when he was already covered from head to toe in the thick, gooey substance. “An older woman, huh?”
“Older?” she scoffed, glancing at him over her shoulder. An unexpected thrill shot through his body when she scanned him up and down, her gaze lingering a little longer on his arms and shoulders. “We are likely the same age.”
