Page 29 of Zenith Tower

“I hated you for making me promise about the ledger.”

“Reasonable.”

“I thought those might be the last words you said to me.”

I turned my hand inside hers and caught her fingers. “They weren’t.”

She looked at me then. Her eyes were dry, but I could see what the last six days had cost her. I lifted her hand to my mouth and kissed the scar across her knuckle.

“Kieran,” she said.

There was a warning in it, though I could not tell which of us it was meant for.

“Caspian knows why you stayed,” I said.

“He does.”

I glanced at the closed door.

“He knows I want you,” she said. “I told him before you came back.”

“How did he take it?”

“He’s jealous. He also knows I chose him.”

I looked again at the door. “I don’t blame him.”

“Neither do I.”

“I spent six days with strangers touching every part of me that failed,” I said. “I would very much like to remember that this body can be touched for another reason.”

Her fingers tightened around mine. “Are you sure?”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to do much.” The admission burned more than it should have. “I’m sure I want you here.”

She shifted closer. “Those aren’t the same question.”

“No.” I met her eyes. “I want you.”

She kissed me slowly, her palm warm against my jaw. Ihad kissed her before with danger at our backs and other people waiting beyond a door. Here, when I shifted closer and my shoulder pulled, she felt me stiffen and waited. I nodded before she kissed me again.

I drew her nearer with my good arm. When her hip touched mine, want went through me so sharply that I laughed against her lips.

She pulled back. “What?”

“Relief.”

“At what?”

“Apparently not everything requires a healer’s confirmation.”

Her laugh broke loose before she could stop it. I kissed her again while it was still there.

She unfastened my shirt slowly. The humor left her face when she saw the silver-green line running beneath my collarbone and into the damaged shoulder. It had darkened since the review. I resisted the urge to cover it.

“Does this hurt?” she asked, touching the skin below it.

“No.”