Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #3) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,38
about other things, but he enjoyed the game—even if he hated the potential outcome. He loved the challenge of conquering and understanding the complexities of economy.
I took another bite.
We ate in silence, and I set my plate down after, staring at the dancing flames.
This area was beautiful, and imagining endless nights like this, just me and Kyros, was a hell all of its own.
“So young and so serious,” he murmured, stroking the top of my cheekbone.
He’d set down his bowl.
I frowned at the boxes of food. “You haven’t eaten enough.”
“Neither have you, my beauty. You never eat enough.”
“I’m not an oversized vampire. I’ve seen what you can put away.”
Kyros smiled. “How about a deal then?”
“I’m listening.” I folded my arms, shivering slightly.
Grabbing a deep-fried money bag, he held it against my lips. “I’ll eat if you do.”
I inhaled, eyes wide on his. Opening my lips, I took a bite of the minced pork parcel. He ate the rest, grabbing another.
“Stop trying to hand feed me,” I complained.
Kyros held another to my lips.
When I sighed and opened my mouth, he snatched it away, shoving the whole thing in his mouth.
“Very funny.” I whacked him, leaning forward for some of the coconut soup. I shivered again as the hot sweetness trickled down my throat.
He draped an arm across my shoulders. “You’re still cold.”
“Hmm? Yeah. The blood loss, I think. I get it for a bit after each exchange too.”
His brows furrowed at that.
“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. It’s just fact.”
Kyros tightened his hold, his warmth seeping into my body. I shuffled closer, trying not to spill my soup.
“Why is it that the more time we spend together, the more uncomfortable you feel?” Kyros asked, staring at the fire.
I tensed, swallowing hard. Fear surged within me. He couldn’t discover the truth yet. I hadn’t figured everything out.
“Fear,” he stated. “Guilt.”
Closing my eyes, I rested the bowl on my lap.
“Longing,” he whispered. “I can’t understand it. You fear the bond between us. You feel guilty about it. Yet you want me. Sometimes, your behaviour and actions suggest you feel as strongly as I do. Other times, you’re impossible to reach as though you’re locking yourself away.”
He drew my face toward his. “Why do you deny yourself? Why do you deny me? I’m trying to understand. To be patient. But the distance between us in those times, like now, drives me mad.”
Opening my eyes, I met his intent green gaze.
“I—”
“No lies,” he said harshly.
I pressed my lips together and tried to break free of his grip. He let me go, watching as I established fresh distance between us.
“Answer me one thing then,” Kyros said.
“Depends what it is.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. Or hurt. Both?
He tucked the anger away before asking. “Why do you want the fifth exchange if you don’t always want me? Or if something about me, my situation, or my family makes you doubt the future we could have?”
I set the bowl on the table, appetite gone. “You’ve heard what I think about Ingenium.”
“I can’t promise there won’t be games if Fyrlia wins.”
My breath hitched. “It’s happening then?”
Jaw clenching, Kyros glanced away. “Yes. We believe our human liaison at the council, Julia Dinh, is not as fully in our control as we previously thought.”
They thought Fyrlia was evading their efforts to tear down Mr Ringly because of Julia Dinh?
I took his hand in mine. “Kyros, is there anything I can do to help?”
He regarded me for a long time. “I won’t drag you into this further. To see how knowing me has changed you. You were always this young, but you weren’t always this serious. Not before me. Thinner. Scarred. Wary. Hurt. Too aware of danger.”
I struggled to understand what he was saying. “You find those things unattractive?”
“No, my beauty. They’re nothing more than regrets spoken in a regretful moment.”
“Those things are nothing more than a moment in time,” I told him. “And not all of those things you listed are bad. I had lessons to learn. Would you rather lock me in your tower?”
“Yes.”
Fell into that one. “You’ve changed, too, since we first met.”
“But I don’t run from you because of them.”
“Kyros, you’ve run from me twice. Once after your siblings found out our bond was far stronger than you’d let on. And again after the third thrall. Not only that, you still keep me at arm’s length whenever you fear I can’t handle something. Like the other day when you tried to brush aside what happens beyond