Page 40 of Accomplice to the Villain

“I don’t,” he rasped.

She blinked. “You don’t want to ask Becky?”

“Idon’tbalance between them.”

She gaped. “Are you saying you do them at the same time?”

He threw his hands up and banged his head into a nearby pillar.

“Sir?” She closed in on him, putting a hand to his shoulder, and there was a near-painful shock at the contact, making them both jolt. He wouldn’t look at her, but he didn’t shake off her hand, either. “Trystan?”

“I haven’tneededto balance them,” he admitted.

She paled, releasing a nervous laugh. “Ever?”

He didn’t say anything else, just gazed at her, pleading in his black eyes, willing her to understand. And then she did, somehow, like lightning to the heart.

I haven’t…since you.

“Well. There’s no choice, then.” Her voice broke, nearly overcome.

“In what?” he muttered hopelessly.

She closed the distance and pressed her lips to his.

Chapter 20

The Villain

Trystan could’ve had the most perfect self-control, but after two weeks keeping away from her, after stolen moments peeking around corners and pressing his ears to doors, walls, and at times windows to hear her voice, there was only one possible response to the gentle press of her lips against his.

And it was, naturally, to lose his ever-loving mind.

Without hesitation, he bent to lift her legs, bringing her as close to him as possible, pressing her against the pillar he’d just been banging his head against while praying to the gods for a piece of sky to fall and clobber him to death. A light press of Sage’s tongue brushed against his lips.

Close enough.

He answered the gesture by slowly seducing her mouth open, gripping the back of her head and losing himself in her the way he’d wanted to from the start. From the moment destiny had pushed them together. For better or worse.

The destiny monster’s words echoed in his head as Sage’s hands held his face tenderly, as she moaned softly into his mouth.

Evie Sage is meant to be your downfall, and you her undoing.

His answer to that reminder should’ve been to pull away. To set her down and offer his regrets, as he had every time their lips had touched before that moment.

But then, in a shy whisper, her light eyes glimmering with unshed tears, she said words he thought he’d never hear from anyone ever again: “I love you.”

He pulled back farther so he could see her remarkable eyes, always brimming with her every emotion, like a message only he could read. “You— I—”

Her fingers fell over his lips. “You don’t need to say anything back. I’m not telling you so I can receive platitudes,” she said fiercely. “I’m telling you because you deserve to hear it. I’m telling you because you deserve to know that someone does, very much, loveyou.”

Whatever pieces of him that declaration left behind were hers to keep.

The destiny monster’s words echoed in his mind again.

And you her undoing.

And Trystan responded to the monster with two.