Page 36 of A Kingdom of Shadows

I pull my arm back and throw the carving out into the bushes.

Aias eyes blink in bafflement as I look at him. "You're throwing it away?"

I shrug. "I no longer need it."

He hesitates to come up with words, but he doesn't have to say anything as droplets cascade over my skin and sweet rain falls under a golden sun and velvet clouds. It is cold, inviting, and refreshing as I tip my head back and let each raindrop kiss my skin. When I look back down toward Darius and Tibith, they're in their element. Tibith trying to catch each droplet in his mouth as Darius just takes in the rain, like every single drop lights up within him, like... it strengthens him.

Automatically, I stand up and walk over.

"Goldie." He smiles as I sit opposite him. "You have never looked worse."

I can't hold in the laughter that spills from my lips. "And you have never looked so atrocious before. I can hardly look at you."

The rain beats gently along the ground as Darius chuckles. He looks to his left and reaches for a rose, picking it off the bush. He hands it to me, and I snort embarrassingly so, remembering he'd done this with a jasmine flower in Chrysos Street.

"What is this for? Do I smell like roses now?" I tease, bringing the soft petals to my nose for a sniff.

"No," he drags out the word mockingly, grabbing it off me and inspecting the stalk. "It is because you are prickly, just like its thorns."

I should have seen that coming.

I scoff and try to rip it from his grasp, but he puts it behind his back. As I grab for it again, my smile turns irritated, and he moves his arm around. Low, then too high for me to catch. He's laughing in the same way that vexes me all the time yet has my heart drumming dangerously against my chest.

The rain trickles down his face and chest, and as he leans back on his elbows, my knee slips when attempting to grab the rose for the tenth time. His arm catches my waist, twisting me so I am beneath him, and my hands come around his neck. My bright laugh mixes with the patter of the rain. I close my eyes briefly before popping them open to find Darius's gaze fixed on my lips. A shade of green casts a shadow from the trees, darkening his golden tan. Water drips from the tips of his hair onto my cheeks, and we don't make any sudden movements to get up.

"I've decided," I say, and his eyes dare not leave my mouth.

"Decided what, Goldie?" he whispers, and I forget where we are, what our task is, and how much we've gone through.

"I—" An intake of breath. "I want to change the rules from the night I won the Liars Dice." He tips his head to the side, his muscled arms never letting go of me as I continue what I'm trying to imply, "For every question I have, you can ask me one."

His face breaks out into a grin. "Five weren't enough for you?"

I shake my head. They really weren't. "If we don't want to answer it, we don't have to." I figure it's the best balance for both of us.

"Alright," he concedes with a nod of his head. "I'll go first, then. What were you like as a child?"

I smile, thinking he'd have asked me a more challenging question, but he did not. "Chaotic," I say, and he laughs. "Night or Day?"

"Day."

For me, night.

"Favorite story?"

"The staff of Aithne." It is a tale of a valiant nobleman on a quest to find the queen of stars, Aithne.

He can't help but smile shamelessly at that, his eyes twinkling like golden stardust. "I heard the lead in that story has a temper. Sounds like someone I know."

My brows squish together, and I playfully smack the back of his neck. "Well," I say. "No one tests my temper like a dragon who loves to steal."

"He sounds like an amazing dragon. What's he like?"

"Vain... likes to irritate everyone—"

"I only like to irritate one person in particular, Goldie."

I arch an eyebrow. "So, you admit to being vain?"

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