“You’ll know soon enough.”
“Patience isn’t one of my virtues.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of that. But unfortunately for you, I don’t mind making you suffer a little.”
“Sadist.”
He laughed again, this time harder, as if it had taken him more off guard.
“The clinic?” I asked a bit later as we neared the building. A curtain was over the window, but light showed on the other side of it. “I see now. Briar has been mastering his magic skills, and y’all came to a solution. You’re going to clone me.”
“Clone you?” Maddox frowned.
Ah, he was unfamiliar with the word. “Like take my DNA—er, I guess you don’t know that term either. Okay. Take my blood and bodily tissue to create two of me.”
“Two of you?” His smirk returned. “A frightening thought. I can barely handle one.”
I was the one who laughed that time. “You’re so mean to me.”
Maddox let go of my hand and stopped in front of the clinic door. And then he pressed me against it, his mouth crashing to mine.
Surprised, I groaned and linked my fingers behind his neck. His taste exploded on my tongue, a bit like honey and liquor, as though he’d drank honey mead with the other knights while Callum and I had been at the hot spring. Tingles spread through my body in that familiar way, like every fiber of my being wanted to feel him. Wanted to taste him.
“I’ve never allowed myself to feel this way about anyone,” he said with a pant against my lips. “I tried to fight it, but it’s a battle I know I can’t win. It’s one no amount of training could’ve ever prepared me for.” He kissed me again. It was softer than before, shakier. “I love you, Evan. So much it scares me.”
His confession draped over my heart and wrapped around it, just like his arms around my waist. I rose up on my tiptoes and rested my head against his, sliding my fingers through the silky black strands of his hair. “I love you too.” My voice shook. “I think I have since the night you first kissed me.”
“I feel like I’ve been waiting for you my entire life.” His nose bumped mine. He traced the seam of my lips with his tongue before dipping it inside my mouth. It was the kind of all-consuming kiss I felt down to my toes.
A kiss that ended abruptly as the door opened behind me.
“Oh,” Briar said from the other side. “Apologies for the interruption.”
“I’m sure you’re very remorseful about it,” Maddox muttered.
Briar’s cheek twitched before he opened the door wider. “Please come in.”
This is it.The talk I had been anticipating all freaking day. Nerves jostled in my belly as I stepped through the doorway, wondering, not for the first time, what the hell I’d gotten myself into.
Chapter Thirteen
Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming
“Awesome weather we’re having tonight,” I said, hands on my hips as I looked at the window. The window that was covered by a curtain. “All humid and stuff.”
Maddox coughed.
“You sound thirsty,” I told him. “I’ll go get you a glass of water. Not from here though. I’ll get it from the spring on the other side of the castle grounds.”
“No, you will stop pacing, stop delaying, and face us like the fearsome muffin lord you are.” Maddox relaxed against the counter and tipped his head to a barstool at the island in front of him. “Sit. We need to talk.”
“We need to talk,” I repeated with a groan. “Those are the worst four words ever. Right above ‘we have no coffee.’”
“Well, I’m taking care of the latter. Coffee is on the way.” Briar heated water at the stove. Another smell lingered in the air too, like something baking. He met my stare with a knowing smile. “You’ll only get a slice if you sit down.”
I was too antsy to sit still, but the promise of sweets and coffee trumped that feeling. The knights had devoured the chocolate cake earlier before I could get a piece, and I needed a sweet fix stat. I slid onto the barstool. “Okay. I’m sitting.”
“Good boy,” Maddox said.
