about him al the more. It made things a little tense at times in the inn, but it kept them simple.
They were a lot more complicated once she got to school. Briony would go there thinking only of Kevin, but the moment she actual y got there, the moment she saw Fal on, things would change completely. Just being close to him made her skin tingle with excitement. Looking at him made her ache. And as for any time that they happened to touch…
It was almost like magic, except that Briony was fairly sure that Fal on was not in her head. She was wearing her cross, and in any case, she could not believe that he would use that kind of tactic to win her heart. No, it was something else that seemed to be creating a connection between them, whether they wanted it or not. It made Briony feel like they were meant for one another, and if Fal on’s behavior was anything to go by, he felt exactly the same way. He spent much of his time trying to track down the dragon, as though that would be the thing that final y persuaded Briony to leave him alone.
The things that Briony felt meant that, in the minutes after she got back from school, when Kevin kissed her by way of a welcome home, she always felt guilt rising up in her. Guilt that she could spend the day feeling like that when she loved Kevin so much. Guilt at kissing him when part of her could stil remember how intense the connection to Fal on had been. Briony knew that she couldn’t go on like that. Not without doing something that would feel like a betrayal of at least one of them.
By the third night of Kevin’s stay at the inn, Briony knew that she couldn’t leave things as they were any longer.
They were sitting together on the couch, close enough that Briony could smel the sweet scent of Kevin’s skin, doing nothing more than talking, and yet Briony found herself more tense than she might have been if a vampire had walked through the door.
Even Kevin picked up on it. “Briony? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
How could she tel him? How could Briony say that she spent her time with him thinking about Fal on, or at least about the strangely intense feelings that she had for him whenever they were close?
“It’s not nothing.” Kevin’s hands drifted up to Briony’s shoulders. “Your muscles are so knotted that they feel like iron. Here, let me help.”
Slowly, gently his fingers started to knead away the tension. It felt so good. Too good, when Briony couldn’t tel him the reason behind the stress she felt. Too good, when they were supposed to be keeping apart.
Far too good, when an image of Fal on jumped into her mind.
“No, wait.” Briony practical y leapt away from Kevin.
“Briony, what is it?”
Briony stood, sliding the promise ring Kevin had given her from her finger. “I can’t wear this, Kevin.”
Kevin looked dumbfounded. “Why not? I thought we were exclusive.”
Briony knew that she ought to explain. That she ought to tel him how she had kissed Fal on the other day, and explain that as much as part of her loved him, she did not want to be exclusive. The trouble was, she simply couldn’t do it. Briony grabbed for the next obvious excuse, one that wasn’t untrue, but which wasn’t the real reason, either.
“I just can’t wear it. Putting on your ring feels like the next step towards giving in to you. We’ve come so close to giving in to temptation again in the last few days, and I’m sure that the ring isn’t helping. It’s like it makes it… okay, somehow, when it isn’t. It real y isn’t what I want” She held the ring out to him.
Kevin’s face couldn’t hide the hurt he obviously felt at that. He stood. “I didn’t mean it like that when I gave it to you, Briony.”
“I know you didn’t, but that is how I feel. Take it back, please.”
Thankful y, Kevin did. It hurt Briony to lie to him like this, but she suspected that the truth would be far worse. To her surprise, she did actual y feel a lot better without the ring on too. It was like a weight had been lifted from her.
“I’l keep this,” Kevin said, holding the ring up. “One day you wil want it again, Briony. I know it. One