breath. “I want to be what you yearn for every moment of every rotation.”
“I still can’t trust you,” I reply with a whispery caress as my lips just brush his. “You’re an open wound. All you care about is revenge.”
“You’re wrong,” he insists softly, his blue eyes seeking mine. “I want to understand you—your buzz, your sting, the nectar on your unbroken wings.” He runs his hand over me and I am honey. “You’re the empress in my dreams.”
His words cause an ache deep within me. It’s an insatiable hum of piercing hunger, which only heightens when his lips descend to mine again. His hands cup my bottom as he lifts me up and takes me to the table meticulously laid out with brass cogs and winding gears from another object he’s taken apart. He slides his hand over the menagerie of metal, wiping it off the table and onto the ground. The broken pieces make garish sounds as they object to being discarded. He perches me on the edge of the wooden surface, touching me as if he knows what my body needs . . . and he does.
I don’t know which of us is the beguiled and which is the muse. “I adore you,” he whispers. I put my hand on his chest, trying to hold him still, trying to catch my breath from the relentlessness of our attraction. He grumbles, “What are you so afraid to lose, Kricket? Tell me you love me too.”
“What do you think will happen if I do?” I ask, knowing that I have no future here with him. I have no future at all.
“You’ll stay with me forever.” His intensity makes it sound like a demand. I try to repress the thrill I feel at the sound of it. I hate that I want to mean something to him.
He reaches out to undress me; his finger glides under the strap of my dress. It slips off my shoulder. His mouth teases my skin where it had rested. Closing my eyes, I lean into him. “You will stay with me forever,” he repeats. I want him to save me, but that’s like asking poison not to kill me.
“I won’t,” I reply.
I try to make myself appear cold and pale, but he kisses me again, coloring me in. His hands inch up my thighs, pushing the length of my dress up, exposing flesh as he goes. I set the spix aside and cover his hands with mine. My hunted heart beats like cornered prey. He frees his hands, undoes his belt, and then his trousers fall away. Gripping my legs behind my knees, he jerks me forward, spreading them apart. “I’m the truth you’ve been searching for, Kricket.”
“You’re a liar, Kyon,” I say against his lips as he makes love to me.
Deep down, however, I fear that I’ve come to love a lie.
CHAPTER 14
THE WORLD ENDER
The lonely dragon has found that he has a heart, and it beats within me. Kyon holds my hand in the hawk-shaped Hallafast as we approach our destination. His thumb rubbing over my knuckles, he stares at our clasped hands as if they’re the most fascinating things he’s ever beheld. Lifting my hand to his lips, he kisses it. I blush and have to look away from him so I can think.
I stare out the window. Our aircraft is surrounded by Kyon’s extensive security detail. We weave between wickedly tall buildings that disappear into the darkened sky above us. “Where are we going?”
“There is a public celebration taking place in the main center of the city known as the Sylvan Square.”
“What are we going to do there?” I ask.
Kyon shrugs. “Whatever it is they do there. I’ve never been here among common people.”
“‘Common people’?” I try not to roll my eyes.
“Non–decision makers.”
“I think they’re just called people, Kyon.”
“I know the people stroll the avenues, frequent shops, buy desserts—dance.”
“Dance?” I ask, raising my eyebrows. “Does Kyon Ensin dance?”
“With the right partner.”
The Hallafast sets down on a landing pad on the ground. Kyon doesn’t get up immediately. I glance at him in question. He let’s go of my hand and reaches into his pocket, pulling out the copperclaw I’d left in the lavare. He straightens the black ribbon that holds the fiery flower. “Will you wear this?” he asks without looking at me.
“Yes,” I reply.
His eyes lift to mine. The brightest smile I’ve ever seen from him transforms his face from handsome to striking. “Thank you.”