Page 73 of The Half King
“Oh, I almost forgot. That’s why I wore these.” She pulled off the extra shirt and pants and offered them to him. “To make the night a little more comfortable for you.”
Kian held the clothes against his chest with the reverence of a child hugging a treasured blanket. “They’re still warm!” While putting on the clothes, he gathered the shirt to his nose and then smiled. “It smells like you.”
“After a day in the saddle?” she asked with a grin. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be silly,” he told her. “I like everything about you. It’s a privilege to know the scent of your body…and the taste of it.” His eyes darkened with an emotion she couldn’t quite place. “It’s a privilege I don’t intend to share with anyone else.”
The intensity in his lingering gaze made her blush. Her feelings were still tangled up. The goddess had found her worthy, but Father Padron’s words about her future rang in her head. And then there was the matter of the Sight. She still wanted it—wanted it badly.
Kian gently ran his hands down her arms, the heat from his palms warming her skin through the thin fabric. He took her hand in both of his and murmured, “I’m yours to command, my lady.”
Her pulse pounded in her ears. She caught herself angling her face toward his, parting her lips in anticipation of his touch. Surely, the goddess wouldn’t fault her a kiss. She’d proven as much by earning the sunset runes. So she told him, “Kiss me.”
And he did.
Their lips met, and her world exploded. The sensations rushed over her, each one headier than the last: the taste of him; the heat of his body pressed tightly against her; the sweeping, seductive motion of his tongue. She opened wider for him, taking him in, exploring his mouth until the need to breathe forced her to break the kiss.
Kian didn’t miss a beat. His lips appeared at her ear, the tickle of his warm breath sending a shiver over her as he whispered, “You amaze me. Have I ever told you that?”
She couldn’t answer him. She was too dizzy with the pleasure he created as he gently took her earlobe between his teeth and alternated between nibbling her tender flesh and suckling it.
“What you did today at the shrine,” he murmured. “It took my breath away. You have a light inside you.” He nuzzled the side of her neck. “And in the moments when you let yourself shine…” He paused to lick a sensitive patch of skin, sending her blood rushing to the juncture of her thighs. “You’re so radiant I can hardly bear it. You didn’t perform a miracle. Youarethe miracle.”
She buried her hands in his hair and drew him closer, kissing him with a ferocity she didn’t know she had within her. But his words reminded her that they still had much to do, more miracles to perform. So she pulled away from him, even though every part of her body screamed in resistance.
He didn’t complain, but his face was at war with the same disappointment and desire that she felt in her bones.
For him, she told herself.This is for him.
She cleared her throat and used her fingers to smooth down his tousled hair. Then she looked around at the dark stone walls, trying to find something more innocent to talk about than their previous conversation.
“This place,” she finally said. “I think Daerick’s theory was right. Coming here must be a gift from the goddess.”
Kian huffed a dry laugh. “More a gift to me than to you, I’m afraid. I hate that you were ever exposed to this hell, but if I’m honest, your company is the only thing that makes it bearable.” He interlaced their fingers and held up their joined hands for show. “I still don’t understand how you can be here, but I’m grateful.”
“I don’t understand it, either,” she admitted. And she was grateful for her time alone with him, too, even though it tested her resolve.
“Come, my lady. Let me show you around.” Kian offered a gentlemanly elbow. “The night is long, and there are more comfortable places to spend it than in this tunnel.”
Cerise accepted his elbow, and they strolled through the dim corridors, filling the quiet with small talk until they reached the dilapidated courtyard and its four arched doorways. She chose a bench facing the empty fountain and sat down gradually, testing her weight. When the ancient marble didn’t crack, she patted the spot beside her. Kian sat down and wrapped an arm around her as she leaned into his warmth to stave off a shiver. She almost preferred the dark stone corridors to this. The crumbling courtyard was like a cold, black mirror to civilization, reminding her with every glance of how far removed she was from anything civil.
“What do you think this place used to be?” she asked. “The courtyard, I mean. It’s the only part of the labyrinth that looks real, like it was something that actually existed.”
“I asked myself the same question when I first came here,” he told her. “It took me moons to figure it out, but I eventually found a sketch in an old record book that belonged to the distant grandfather of the palace groundskeeper.” He indicated the fountain and the marble benches surrounding it. “A thousand years ago, this exact courtyard stood at the heart of the shrubbery maze in the east garden.”
“The shrubbery maze.” She glanced at the four arched doorways, recalling how many hours she had lost trying to explore their twisted passages. “Does that mean the stone labyrinth is meant to represent the garden maze?”
“I can’t say for certain,” Kian said. “But it would seem that way.”
Cerise tilted her head and studied the fountain, looking for details that might set it apart from any other lawn ornament in the mortal realm. As far as she could tell, there was nothing special about it. The marble benches seemed equally ordinary. The timing, on the other hand, was undeniably significant. “A thousand years ago. That was when the Great Betrayal happened.”
“Which I’m sure is no coincidence,” Kian said. “I think something sinister happened in this courtyard—something so offensive to your goddess that she recreated the scene here as a reminder to those she condemned to suffer.” He released a bitter huff. “A pity she didn’t think to give us infinite memory so we would know the reason for our punishment.”
Cerise tried to imagine what kind of offense could have taken place in a courtyard at the heart of a garden maze. A forbidden rendezvous, perhaps. Though the courtyard had changed over time, it was still being used for secret meetings. That was where she had stumbled upon Delora and her lover.
“I can only think of one possibility,” Cerise said. “No one knows what role the Mortara dynasty played in the betrayal. I always assumed it was house Mortara that brought the other noble houses together. If I’m right, maybe this courtyard was where it happened.” She swept a hand toward the scattered benches. “Maybe this is the place where the four noble houses met and agreed to try to murder the goddess. I can’t imagine anything more sinister than that.”
Kian made a throaty noise of agreement, but his thoughts seemed to have shifted. “I don’t want to talk about your goddess anymore,” he said quietly.
