Page 64 of Fortress of Ambrose
“Then lie to me. Just for a moment.” She brought her mouth close to his.
“Nore.”
“Please,” she breathed onto his lips.
His chest rose and fell harder, his breath quickening, as his hands found her waist, finally giving in. His touch flooded her with a rush of feelings: longing, need, hope, comfort, as he traced her. She stopped breathing, wishing she could freeze time in this moment. Wanting to believe this could truly be real.
He slipped an arm around her and pulled her tighter to him. With the world on fire, this is what she’d wanted, the security of his closeness. The tightness of his hug rooted her to the ground, no amount of chaoscould rip her from him—her anchor.Don’t let me go, she wanted to say. Then their lips grazed each other. She couldn’t bear the tease, so she dove for the sweetness of his kiss. And to her relief, he didn’t push her away. He parted his mouth. Tentatively, at first. Then his mouth opened wider, deepening the kiss as his arms tightened around her.
The entire world disappeared, and she kissed him back the way she knew he liked to be kissed. She flung her arms over his shoulders as he lifted her off her feet. Her legs knotted behind him, and she ran her fingers furiously through his hair.
This was the Yagrin she knew. One who burned with passion. She became a fire finally getting air. He breathed into her mouth and she nibbled at his lips eagerly. The sounds he made as he kissed her covered her in goose bumps. She pushed her robe off her shoulder.
He froze, their mouths still connected.
“Nore, I love someone else.” He pulled back. “And I don’t think she’d like this very much.”
She wouldn’t care!She groaned as he set her back on her feet. “You loveme!”
He looked at her wholly confused. “Ilikeyou, but—”
“Justshut up. Shut up, okay?”
She ran off to her small house, threw herself in bed under covers, and cried herself to sleep.
Twenty-Six
Quell
I’ve been waiting in the corridor outside the healing office since Jordan disappeared inside with Zecky. I need to know if he’s okay and if we can move our focus to getting the magic out of him finally.
I haven’t seen Jordan since he stormed out of the talk with Willam yesterday evening. I gave him his space, sleeping in the Belles Wing, unable to even enter the private family-only third floor of the estate for fear the memories would drown me in grief. Or worse, anger. But I held my ground with Willam. I meant what I said. Show you’re on our side, then we can talk. And apparently it worked. Because just as I was fending off questions about what to do when one of the twins fell from a tree they were climbing, Dexler let me know we had a visitor.
It’s well past midnight when Jordan exits the room.
I unfold myself from a blanket and chair, stretching my stiff limbs.
“Jordan.”The edges of his face have sharpened. The shadows that hood his eyes are deeper or darker or something. It’s only been a little over a day, but it feels like so much longer than that. Like a chamber of my heart hasn’t been pumping. The procedure the Healer did took a toll on him.
“Quell.” The air between us crackles with tension, and it pulls at me like a tether. I want to go to him, hold him, touch him. “I think I’m alright.” He slips a card into his pocket and sways, catching himself on the banister.
“Are you sure you’re alright? Did it go okay?”
“I would really like to sit down in fresh air.”
“Of course.” I lead us down the stairs and out to a garden bench beside the conservatory and rose garden. He settles back in his seat timidly and exhales.
“Can I see?”
He lifts his shirt. His smooth skin has only a slight bruise. “The wound is gone.” He doesn’t meet my eyes.
“We can focus on getting it out of you now,” I say.
He doesn’t respond. Instead, he stares at the rose garden.
“Now that you’re mended,” I go on, “we need to give Willam an answer about opening a new house. We could use their support.”
“I don’t recall saying we needed help beyond this.”
