What about your brother? Would he have loved this too?
Rag? Kol laughed, though there was hurt behind it. Not a chance. He was always serious. Always focused on doing things exactly as he’d been taught. His whole life was spent trying to live up to the responsibility of being king one day, and it took the fun out of him.
Kind of like me?
Kol’s fingers tightened around her waist, and he drew her a little closer. She could feel the heat of his chest, but instead of pain, it brought comfort. There’s no one like you.
Kol’s hands were still steadying her, though now it felt like she needed steadying for a different reason altogether. Her skin tingled with something different from magic, something that sparked along her nerves and shivered deliciously in her stomach. She smiled up at him, and he smiled back, and then Gabril cleared his throat.
“I may be old, but I’m not blind. I can see when I’m intruding.” His hand wrapped around her shoulder and squeezed gently. “You two don’t stay out too late talking, and don’t do anything you don’t want to tell me about in the morning.”
Lorelai took a step back from Kol, and his hands dropped from her waist. “You’re leaving us out here alone?”
“Would you rather I stayed?”
Skies, no.
“No! I mean . . . we’ll be fine. We’re just going to talk.”
Gabril snorted. “That’s what we called it in my day too.” He looked at Kol. “If I can trust her to wage war against the queen, I can trust what she sees in you. And besides, if you try anything she doesn’t like, she can turn you into a pile of ash.”
Lorelai and Kol watched Gabril walk back to the shack in silence, and though they weren’t touching, her skin still tingled with the memory of his.
THIRTY-THREE
AS GABRIL DISAPPEARED into the forest, heading back toward the shack, Kol faced Lorelai and closed the distance between them with a single step. She looked at him, her dark eyes glowing in the moonlight, her red lips parted, and Kol could think of nothing but her.
Are we about to break your ground rules? Kol leaned toward Lorelai slightly, giving her time to move away if she chose.
Ground rules? She looked at his mouth, and her breath quickened.
You remember. The list you gave me when you decided not to block me out of your head? He took one of her cold hands in his and focused all his thoughts on the way she sucked in a sharp little breath when he rubbed his thumb over her wrist. The way her pulse beat frantically against her skin.
What about it? She licked her lips, and he willed her to move toward him. To want this like he wanted it.
You make me want to break one of your ground rules every time you look at me like this. And, skies help him, waiting for her to decide if she truly wanted him or not was torture.
Her smile was a slow journey of warmth that lit up her face and lingered in her eyes. You want to kiss me.
Skies, yes.
For a brief moment, visions of the many other girls he’d casually kissed at the academy filled her mind, and he shook his head. No, Lorelai. You’re different. This—he held up their joined hands—is different. Search my thoughts, and you’ll see the truth.
He waited quietly while she looked and saw the way she shone a little brighter than anyone he’d ever met. The way she challenged him and thrilled him and made him want to perform some idiotic grand gesture to prove himself in her eyes.
A grand gesture like sparing my life even though it meant your blood oath with Irina would kill you?
He laughed, but his heart was pounding with something better than the need to hurt, punish, and kill. I didn’t do that for you. Not really. I didn’t even know you at the time. I was just trying to keep my honor without condemning my kingdom.
Still, it was a pretty grand gesture.
You think so? He leaned closer, and the scent of evergreens and snow made him want to drag her against him and show her just how different she really was from every other girl in the world.
“Yes,” she breathed the word into the space between them, her thoughts full of anticipation and need. He took that as the permission he’d been waiting for.
Her lips were warmer than her hands as he gently pressed his mouth to hers, still giving her a chance to back away if she changed her mind.
I’m not changing my mind. She let go of his hand and grabbed the front of his shirt instead.
He ran his hand up her arm and tangled his fingers in her hair while still keeping the kiss gentle. Their first kiss needed to be perfect, and that meant holding himself back so that he didn’t rush things.