Page 55 of A Kingdom of Shadows

My smile softens as I release my hand from Darius's and bend down, ruffling Tibith's head. "Perhaps."

When I look up, Darius's drunken smile has me glowering. "We should go," I say as I rise on my toes and point my index finger at his chest. "Or you won't be able to wake up tomorrow."

"Might I stay?" Aias walks over to us, swirling the contents of his drink around in his tankard. "The drinks here are delicious."

I pull a face as he takes a sip and grab it off him before I have to deal with another drunkard. The night already has me flashing back to the moments Iker would come home intoxicated, and Illias and I would get him to bed.

"No." I yank the drink from his spindly fingers and smack it down on one of the barmaid's trays as she walks past. "Now, let's go."

* * *

I stumble into Darius's chambers with one of his arms slung around my shoulder as he holds onto a leather flask he'd stolen off an elf in plain sight. I had attempted to pry it from his hand, but the number of times he'd swung it around made it far too difficult to grab it, and if I had managed, he'd likely take it from me within seconds again.

"I can't believe you left the castle grounds to intoxicate yourself," I mutter as I drop him onto his bed, and he sits up. "And Aias, really? He shouldn't be dragged into your childish outings!" I hadn't even chastised Aias on it, considering he and Tibith had fled to their chamber as soon as the castle gates rolled up.

"He is not a child, Goldie," he says, rolling his shoulders as he massages the back of his neck. The motion of it, for some reason, has me staring at the cut of his tunic, showing his chest more than anything.

"Even so, it wasn't a good time for you to start drinking tonight."

"When is it, not a good time to drink?"

"When we have to be somewhere in the morning!" I quell the temper in my voice as he slowly rises from the bed. "Are you forgetting we aren't here because we want to be?" Through the dark, the lack of sconces, and a scent of sweet honey ale pervading us, I can still see him clearly as I carry on, "If our only hope at protecting Zerathion is the Isle of Elements, then we can't just keep wasting time, Darius." I draw back a breath knowing his eyes are still on me. Folding my arms over my chest, I shake my head and stare at him. "Why were you drinking?"

He escapes my gaze and shrugs. "Must there be a reason?"

Considering he'd acted off today and how Gus had spoken that at times when he'd not been himself, he would drink until he could hardly say his name... "Not at all, but why now? Why today?"

His eyes pin me right here on the spot as he draws the flask up to his lips. "I thought it would make me forget."

I huff out a breath, slapping my hands against my thighs. "Forget what?"

He takes a long sip. "Forget how badly I want to kiss you."

My heart jumps.

I can't voice what I want to say. Every ounce of my flesh melts at what he's just said and how his eyes don't leave anything to the imagination. He's looking at me like he's one step closer to dropping everything and doing exactly what he wants to do.

Kiss me.

He is drunk, that is all.

Drunk and—

He tosses the now-empty flask onto his bed. "I'll be honest with you, Goldie, because I'd be lying to myself if I didn't tell you how I've considered taking you up against every inch of this castle." His words strike a shockwave through my system, and I find myself stumbling backward as he walks over, so leisurely and smooth you'd think he hadn't been drinking. And as he approaches me, he rests his palms on either side of my head. "Every single night, knowing you're just across the room from me... it's torture."

I swallow thickly. "Darius—"

He groans, low and frustrated, as he drops his forehead against mine. "Don't say my name like that."

"You're not thinking straight," I murmur, half closing my eyes. Drunk, he's foolishly drunk.

"I've never thought more perfectly in my life, Goldie."

"Get some sleep."

He smirks. "With you, I hope."

I shoot him an unforgettable glare. "Do you want me to dunk your head in a water barrel?"

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