Page 29 of Dark Sun (Wicked Lovely 6)

Katherine

Kissing Urian was not what she’d expected. Admittedly, romance novels and television weren’t the best of teachers, but she hadn’t expected to feel like she was swallowing shadows and lightning. She hadn’t expected the universe to fill her like she might explode with the majesty of it if he moved away.

Her entire body tingled like a spark left ungrounded, looping back on itself. She clutched him, gripping his shirt like she needed to keep him from escaping.

When his hand dropped to her ass, Katherine lifted one leg to press closer.

And logic slapped her like a vat of ice water. She jerked away so hard that she fell, tumbling into the gravel and surprisingly grateful for the shock of pain that came from her fall.

“Stop.”

He looked down at her. “I asked for consent.”

“Yes. I gave it but . . .” She shook her head, trying to quell her racing heart, needing to convince her body to slow down. “That wasn’t a kiss.”

“Oh?”

Katherine pressed her now-bleeding hand into the ground again. “It started as a kiss, but . . . I can’t kiss you if that’s what happens.”

He squatted down so they were eye-to-eye. “What was it that happened? I thought you were happy to kiss me.”

“Is it like that when you kiss other faeries? Other humans?” Katherine was fairly certain that she’d take every skill she had to fight her way to Urian’s side if anyone or anything tried to separate them right now. That couldn’t be normal.

“Like what?” Urian pressed.

“Like you want to consume the other person,” she whispered, staring down at the ground, watching her blood make blooms in the sandy dirt. She kept her voice low as she continued, “Like lightning was building inside your body and trying to demand that you get closer. Like clothes are too much of a barrier . . .”

“And the world could burn around you and you wouldn’t notice?” Urian added when her voice trailed off.

“Oh.”

“Look at me.” He gently touched her under the chin, tilting her head upwards until Katherine met his eyes. “In a century or so of kissing people, I’ve never felt that until just now. Until you.”

Faeries don’t lie.

This one truth was all that stood between her and complete embarrassment.

He’s not lying.

“Why?”

Urian sighed. “If I knew this was what I could have, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to be as patient that many days outside your window. I’d have scaled the building, begged you for a kiss . . .”

“What you couldhave?” she echoed. “I’m not a possession.”

The smile he offered her was worse than the temptation of a thousand kisses. “Are you sayingyoudon’t want to possessme?”

“No . . . but normal people—”

“We are not normal people, Katherine. I am a prince without his throne, and you are the only femalegancanaghI’ve ever heard of.” Urian’s arrogance was somehow twofold as he said the words. “A partner fit for a king.”

Every rational thought she had vanished.

Aking? Partner to a king?

Katherine scooted away from him and shook her head. “I don’t know how things are inyourworld, but a kiss isn’t a proposal, no matter how amazing it was.”

He looked at her as if she was a strange puzzle, but he didn’t step closer.

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