Page 58 of Kingdom of Spirits

They landed,deciding that everyone needed some rest if they were to keep on battling Katk. Fara had fallen asleep the moment her head hit her bedroll. Trevain had claimed to have ghost business elsewhere and he’d disappeared, leaving the dragons, Marius, and Tahlia on their own.

The fire’s golden light danced across Marius’s proud nose and strong cheekbones. Tahlia had never known she’d be envious of light.

“What are you thinking about?” Marius asked, his voice quiet enough not to carry to where the dragons gathered beside a sleeping Fara at the second fire.

Tahlia didn’t want to say what she had been thinking. It would only be torture, and as much as she enjoyed giving him trouble, this time, teasing didn’t feel right. Taking a swig from the flask of lavender mountain liquor Fara had brought, she drummed up a new question. Gods, the liquor was awful.

“What’s your ideal day?” she asked finally.

He looked up, an almost comical frown on his face. “I’m sorry?”

Shrugging, she plucked a piece of long grass and twisted it around her finger. “You heard me. I was just curious.”

“Always so curious.”

His features softened, and she looked away, his tenderness burning her heart and soul. Their situation was such a wreck.

“Tea before dawn,” he said. “A book in my hands and a day of flying ahead of me.”

It was mad how hard she was falling for this male. “Tea and a book? I didn’t expect that.”

His eyebrows lifted. “How about you?”

“Guess.”

His gaze snagged on her face, the look in his eyes bracing. “You only want to be in the sky. As much as you are able. You live to fly.”

Her heart danced at how well he already knew her. “Exactly.”

“But you don’t mind landing long enough to have some cake.”

A laugh bubbled from her. “True.”

“Ask me anything, Tahlia.”

Her breath caught. The way he said her name… “I don’t have a list like some people.” She gave him a pressing look. “So I’ll have to think on it.”

“What were youreallythinking when I first asked you?” he asked. “Because that was a lie.”

She swallowed. “Touching you.”

Glancing away, he poked at the fire with a long stick. His throat moved in a swallow, his skin brushing the collar of his vest. Tahlia wanted to tuck her head into that space and press her lips to the beat of his pulse.

“Marius, look at me.”

“It’s too difficult.”

Tahlia blinked, watching him stir the fire as if his life depended on its heat.

“If I study the soft edge of your cheek,” he said, his deep voice a low whisper, “the lift of your upper lip, the curve of your breast, your pert nose, I’ll come undone… I… Tahlia, this situation will kill me if it doesn’t kill you.”

She could hardly talk around the tightness in her throat. “We will break your curse.”

“I wish I was as sure as you.”

“We will find this Mother Twilight goddess that Trevain mentioned. She’ll help us.”

“She is only a story told to us by a ghost,” he said. “How do we even know if she still exists?”