Page 17 of A Kingdom of Shadows

One of my brows curves upwards. "I'd rather not have to break your hand."

"Progress." He grins. "You said you'd rather not."

"Don't push it."

His chuckle rumbles throughout his body onto mine before he lowers his hands to just above my hips.

Silence engulfs us for the next minute as I stare at him, the way anyone would, being this close to someone and feeling the smooth strokes of their fingers on your skin.

Whether I'm making him uncomfortable or not, he doesn't care because he's also staring back at me.

"I have my next question," I say.

I don't, actually.

But anything to stop the strange silence between us.

He smiles. "After this one, you only have two left."

We'll see.

"Have you ever fallen in love?" The unexpected question leaves my lips before I've even thought it through. I guess it has just been buried beneath a bed of what I'm always curious to know about.

His hands tense on me, and gold eyes—usually bright—darken. For a moment, I don't think he will answer at all until— "Yes."

A single word that makes my heart speed.

Before my time in the city, I rarely questioned someone, but now? I want to ask when? With whom? What happened? But I conform with, "What's it like?"

My heart dips even further between the crevices of my chest, thinking of Lorcan again before Darius inhales a deep breath and says, "Frightening."

That's not exactly the answer I expected, but what answer did I want? "Is that all?"

"Love is different for everyone, Goldie." The heat of his hands now spread to my upper back. "Sometimes, a simple glance is all it takes to fall in love with someone."

I snort, and my lip twitches into a smile. "I've only ever read that in stories my mother would tell me."

Curiosity creeps into his eyes. "And how did your mother and father fall in love?"

My smile falters as my expression turns pensive. "On Noctura night, when they were children. My father saw her dancing as the gold dust fell from the sky, and he's always said since that moment he loved her."

He smiles at my response, proving him right with his point on love.

"Well then—" I pause, tilting my head. "How can you know when you're in love with someone?"

A crack of sorrowful silence consumes him as he stares at me intently, and then... he answers, "When it hurts."

When it hurts.

The repetition of that sentence claws at the barriers of my mind, shredding the thought that love is a painful thing one can ever experience.

Who hurt you, Darius?

It's all I care to know at this moment, but he backs away, his hands no longer warming up my skin as he kneels to pick up my blade and gives it to me.

"I think you're warmed up now. We should go," he says, avoiding my gaze and calling for Tibith before walking away from me.

Chapter Eight

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