Page 25 of Hearts on Fire
“Because I lived it—”
She jerked her head impatiently, not letting him finish. “You lived a thousand years from now. But you feel the sufferings of others are justified for the next hundred years as the sacrifice to your bright, shiny tomorrow. We all only have one life to live, Elex, and the lives of everyone who is here today will be over before that shiny future of yours will arrive. So forgive me if I can’t fullyrejoiceat what’s about to happen.”
She leaned to pick up her bow, but he stopped her by gripping her shoulder. He couldn’t let her storm away again filled with anger and resentment.
“Don’t go. Not yet. Not when you’re mad at me.”
“I’m not… I…” She blew out a breath, rubbing her forehead. “I shouldn’t be blaming you for all of this. There is only so much one man could do anyway, prince or not.” She looked at him with a little less fire in her gaze. “Just think about it, Elex, please. What if the history you learned was wrong? How can a son of a tyrant grow up to be the kind, just, benevolent king your namesake would grow up to be? It doesn’t make sense. Apples don’t fall far from the trees, as they say. It took three generations of ever-increasing depravity to result in the current state of affairs in Dakath. Why do you think it will all just fix itself with the arrival of King Elex?”
“I have trust in the future.” It was the only answer he could give her.
She turned away with a sigh.
“Well, I don’t. I don’t trust anything or anyone. Yes, I’m training to kill a dragon, but I want no part in your war. I’ll kill to defend myself, but not for anything else.” She grabbed her quiver, ready to leave.
Every word of hers felt like an arrow shot straight into his heart. Her resentment burned, festering between them and keeping them apart. He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t let her keep walking away from him.
He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the castle wall. “Then you need more than an arrow.”
“What do you mean?” She paused.
He peeled his back from the wall and stepped closer. “Dragons can be more dangerous when they look like men.”
She could’ve moved back, but she didn’t, standing her ground.
He yanked the dagger out from the sheath on his hip. “What would you do if you let a dragon come way too close to use a bow and arrow?”
Her delicate throat moved with a swallow. “I won’t let that happen…”
“But you already have. I’m here. Am I not?” He leaned closer. His forehead touched the edge of her hood. His chest was a breath away from hers. Yet it still didn’t feel close enough for him.
The bow slipped from her hand, hitting the ground with a thud. He replaced it with the dagger, wrapping her fingers around the bejeweled handle.
“Aim it here.” He lifted her hand, then pressed the blade to the side of his neck. “Where the blood pulses, carrying the fire of life through the dragon’s body. Stab through the vein.” He squeezed her hand tighter around the handle. “Twist the blade to let the blood out. But do not remove it after. Choose a weapon with Nerifir iron in it, the one that can kill a fae. Leave it in the wound for the iron to poison his blood and carry it through the rest of his body.” He felt his pulse beating against the cold blade. “He’ll be dead within seconds.”
She stared at him, her summer-green eyes open wide.
“Y-you want me to kill you?” she stammered.
Confused and uncertain, she looked more vulnerable than ever. But she had killed him many times over already. Every time she glared at him with resentment, every time she stormed away and avoided him felt like a stab through his heart.
“No, my dearest.” His lips twitched with a smile. “I want you tokissme. In fact, I think I’d die for a kiss at this point.”
She released a breath, her eyes flicking between his. When her gaze darted to his lips, his heart flipped. Was she actually going to do it?
The next moment, however, the look in her eyes hardened. “There weren’t supposed to be any more kisses, remember? The one by the creek in my world was our goodbye kiss.”
She never forgave him for taking her that day. But she had touched him since. The memory of her hand wrapped around his shaft made him hard in seconds.
“If it’s my only choice,” he murmured. “I’d take you stroking my cock instead.”
She rolled her eyes in that so-very-human expression of hers.
“Since we have no spectators and no pressure for me to do that,” she snapped, “I’ll pass.”
She lied. No one had pressured her into touching him the way she did at the king’s celebration. He had been content simply holding her in his lap and talking. She’d been the one who went for his pants, to his utter delight, of course. He just wished she’d let him do the same to her, too.
She shifted back, and he couldn’t stand the distance returning between them. It felt like the closer he tried to get to her, the further she drifted away. Soon, he feared, the distance would be so great, neither of them would be able to bridge it. They’d be in the same world, but worlds apart.