Page 62 of Reign of the Talon
“No,” Seojin replies, shaking his head gently but firmly. “No, Iseul. I won’t give up on you. Even these past few days, you’ve changed. You’ve stopped taunting the patients. You’ve stopped telling them you want to eat their livers and suck out their souls. You even stopped pinching them when I’m not looking. Please, Iseul.” On impulse, he grabs her hand, the one chained to his own, interlocking his fingers with hers. “Let yourselffeel.”
She stares down at their joined hands. “I can’t,” she whispers, so quietly that she is surprised when Seojin doesn’t miss it.
“Why can’t you?” he asks, so softly it breaks her heart.
“The only thing I have anymore is my rage,” she rasps before she can stop herself, forgetting for a moment that she is meant to hate him forevermore. “I’m nothing without it.”
“You have more than just your rage. You always have, spitfire.” His throat bobs, and she watches it through tear-blurred vision.
“No,” she whispers, “I don’t.”
“You do,” he insists, raking a hand through his hair. His expression… It’s almost desperate. He’s staring at a point on her face. The bottom of her nose? No, she realizes, her…lips. “You have—me. You always have.”
“Liar,” Iseul spits, trying to jerk away but only bringing him closer, the chain between them rattling. “You walked away from me. You got me captured. Youcontinueto snore when I need to sleep, and you insist on guilt-trippingme at every possible route. I know what you’re doing, Seojin, and it’snotgoing towor—”
Yet before Iseul can finish her sentence, he closes the distance between them. Bewildered, Iseul gnashes her teeth, but then he’s lifting his chained hand to her chin. And his touch is so very…gentle. Her skin all of a sudden feels far too hot, and her heart is pounding as he presses his lips against hers, shy, hesitant, claiming.
Iseul’s mind eddies out completely.
What…
This is…well,thisis a turn of events that she had not at all foreseen. Iseul’s eyes are wide open.
She has never been more confused.
They’ve kissed before, during the days of bumbling lips and bumping noses—once, Iseul nearly stole his soul by accident (or at least shesworeit was an accident; it’s true that she was feeling a bit hungry)—but those times were in their youth, innocent golden days. Never since have they… Has he…
Her lips have parted in utter shock. Iseul is slightly worried that her shock is making kissing her like kissing a dead fish.
What a stain on her reputation. She is amadame, after all. She will not… She will not allow herself to be a—a deadfish.
In the back of her mind, Iseul suspects that somehow Seojin has outplayed her, but she simplydoesn’t carebecause his lips are soft and his hand is wrapping around her hair, tugging her closer, and the chain between them is rattling and she cannot get enough of him. Ryu Seojin is kissing her, the boy who, for so long, only seemed to think of her as a friend and then an enemy, is kissing her, and it’s surprisinglydelectable.
She vaguely remembers that one of her Doves did give him kissing lessons, and she applauds Jiho for doing her jobexceptionallywell.
When she finally draws back, breathless, Seojin’s chest rises and falls unevenly.
“Youhave me,” he rasps, eyes so wide and hopeful, and she suddenly understands: he gave this to her, to show her…that she is not alone. “You have me, Iseul.” Seojin swallows hard, reaching a shaking hand toward her, tenderly brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “Is it enough?” he whispers, searching her eyes. “Is it?”
It almost sounds as if he is begging.
Pleading.
Is it enough?
It is…it is…
She does notunderstandwhat it is. This buoyant feeling in her chest. This sweetness on her lips.
“I…” Iseul stares down at the chain connecting them. “I don’t know yet,” she whispers, but it’s not ano.
Damn him, it’s not a no.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The Prisoner
It is not another memory, nor another confrontation, that awaits me on the next level. It is as if my mind knows I desperately need rest, need to make the most of the time I’ve bought by wounding the Dalgyal Gwisin. Severing its limb may have slowed it down, but it is still coming for me.
