Page 110 of The Forgotten Queen
Knocked…on a door that was alreadyopen.
He was losing his mind.
Sydria turned around from her spot on the couch and looked at him. A timid smile crossed her lips as if she were as nervous to see him after their kiss as he’d been.
He leaned against the doorframe, keeping a safe distance from her until he could get his heart working properly.
“Hi.”
It wasn’t the most eloquent thing to say, but Marx was testing the waters, gauging how she’d react.
“Hi,” she said back.
There wasn’t much to her response—the data was inconclusive.
“You were holding out on me,” he said with a smile.
Concern touched the tip of her brow. “About what?”
“If I had known all this time that you could deliver a kiss that kills, I would’ve never waited that long to kiss you.”
She smiled, dropping her eyes to her hands. “Did it kill you?” she asked, glancing up through her dark lashes.
“Destroyed me.”
“Me, too.” Her smile grew, sending a flood of heat through Marx’s body.
He straightened, needing to stop this conversation before he wound up on the couch next to her, kissing for the rest of the afternoon.
Although that did seem like a good option.
He shook his head. This was a perfect example of his focusing problems.
“Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I have some free time, and I was wondering if you’d like a tour of the artifact room.”
“Are you trying to seduce me?” she joked.
Marx raised a brow. “With artifacts?”
“You never know.”
Marx liked this teasing, flirty side of Sydria. It was definitely something he could get used to, but he was on a mission. He had goals.
He put his hand up in the air. “I promise to be a perfect gentleman throughout the tour and keep my hands to myself.”
Sydria stood. “Aperfectgentleman? How can I refuse that?”
They walked through the halls, slowly making their way through the castle until they were inside the domed room. Three arched, ceiling to floor, windows were on the room’s outer wall, letting in plenty of light. Displays of pre-Desolation items were set up around the room and in rows running down the middle.
“How exciting,” Sydria said as she walked through the open space.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of amazing things in here. Cristole’s artifacts probably look a little different than the other kingdoms since half of our kingdom lies within the pre-Desolation land known as Mexico.” He pointed to a blanket hanging on the wall. “Hence all the bright colors.”
Sydria studied the colorful wool blanket. “It’s beautiful, but I wouldn’t know the difference between Cristole’s artifact room and another kingdom’s since I’ve never been in another artifact room before.” She turned away as she walked to the next display. “At least I don’t think I have.”
I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
Marx remembered her mention of a pre-Desolation photograph when they had been with the castle seamstress. But that was why they were there, to jog her memory even more.
