Page 46 of The Queen's Line

"But you weren't born with a pencil and chisel attached to your hands, so you must continue to pick them up because you love the work," I teased.

"I do love it. That must be why. For the last year or so, I've wondered if I was only continuing because it's all I know. Not that I'm uninspired. Only that my work seems to be solely for aesthetics."

"I like aesthetics," I said, taking a berry for myself and eyeing the pond. There was an old crippled oak tree on the bank and a flock of the geese we'd been warned about farther down. "Do you really only want to sculpt if the product is important?"

Cosmo hummed and shook his head. "No. No, I…I love sculpting because it's as if I'm getting to know someone with my hands. Almost like creating them, except it feels as though they already existed in the clay before I ever arrived. I sketched Owen today, but when I plan the piece, it won't be him who appears. There will be someone new, and I learn them as I build them. Learn the strains in their muscles and imagine where they might've come from. Their age as it shows on their face or in their stance. Their moods and behaviors from their expression."

Cosmo was somewhere else now, not with me in the boat, and I wanted to reach out and drag him back to me, to fall into that same place in his head where he went when he was working. My body tightened, and I huffed out an irritated breath as I lurched up to my knees, the boat rocking a little at my movement.

Cosmo's gaze fell back to me, eyes widening and lips parting, but I didn't wait for him to ask. My arms circled his shoulders, and I pulled him to me, claiming his mouth with a kiss.

He was right. The Hunger was more than physical lust, that was just how it manifested. It was Cosmo who'd triggered it, simply by being himself.

"Bryony," he gasped, and then groaned and returned to my kiss, slipping gently down from the bench he'd been sitting on, pushing the oars to the back of the boat. We were floating toward the oak on the bank, the boat rocking slightly as we rushed to press closer.

We'd probably be fine. I didn't really care either way.

All I wanted in the moment was Cosmo, and I dragged him down on top of me, my back pushing the basket to the tip of the prow and out of my way. Cosmo laughed as the boat moved with every little jostle of our bodies as we tried to fit together in the small space. We were on our sides by the end, hands groping over clothes to try and hold each other closer, mouths meeting messily, nibbling at any flesh they could find.

"Please," I begged, my body trying to work itself against Cosmo.

"It's all right. I have you."

He did, but not enough. I nearly tipped us over trying to climb on top of him, and the Hunger didn't care if Cosmo was laughing wildly, if I was giggling too. It still wantedmore. I settled my knees on either side of his hips and tried to grind down on his lap, my hands braced on either side of Cosmo's beaming smile, but there was too much fabric between us for real friction.

"Is this you?" Cosmo murmured, a little fold appearing between his dark brows. "Are you as much possessed by the magic as you could make me be?"

I paused to catch my breath, sitting up over his lap and staring down at him. Cosmo Pianetta was handsome, although it was in an earthier way than the others. His lips were full and strong, and his nose had a distinctive line down the tip. His curls were black and thick, and I indulged in the impulse to reach out and dig my fingers in, watching in fascination as Cosmo's eyes fell shut and his head tilted back under my grip, throat bobbing with his swallow.

"It's me," I said, realizing it was true. The Hunger was on my back, panting and salivating like a wolf waiting to leap on its prey, but it was willing to be patient if I demanded it. "I want you."

Cosmo grinned, eyes opening and finding mine. "Then I'm yours, muse."

Which is, of course, when the goose arrived on the boat.

16

Bryony

Iscreamed, and Cosmo broke into immediate rowdy laughter. The goose spread its wings and honked, leaning forward, snapping at me and bouncing closer, perching on the wobbling oars like a gargoyle. A second bird appeared by Cosmo's head, and his laughter died abruptly as we both sat up and the geese began their attack, claiming our picnic basket and cornering us against the side.

We were up, clutching each other, trying to shoo the geese away, when the balance tipped and the water rushed in and I went spilling out. Sky and the tall green branches of trees spinning over my head as Cosmo fell out with me, something like a scream and a laugh rising out of my throat. The water was a cool caress against my back, until it started to swallow me and Cosmo at my side, his arm still wrapped around my waist.

"Ugh, pleh! Hang on!" Cosmo said, coughing water out. I could just barely feel the resistance of a mossy stone under my toes, with water up to my ears, but Cosmo was tall enough to slip and walk and pull me forward to the bank.

"Geese are monsters," he gasped.

I coughed and spat, but the lake water was reasonably clear. "We were warned," I croaked, reaching under the water and wrestling with too much fabric around my legs.

Cosmo snorted, lifting me up with both arms, my dress sopping and heavy, pouring water back to the surface as he grunted and hauled us to shore. My giggles broke free next, and he grinned at me, black hair hanging around his ears in sodden curls.

"I hope you weren't very hungry," I said, grinning and looking back over Cosmo's shoulder to see the geese rescuing what was left of our picnic as it bobbed up from beneath the boat.

"I'll be fine. What of your hunger?" he asked, the double meaning hovering in the question. Cosmo sank to his knees at the very edge of the water and set me down in a soft nest of grass and sand. He hovered next to me, undoing the buttons of his soaked vest and peeling it off his shoulders. The white fabric of his shirt was now transparent, and I admired the familiar path of dark hair over his chest and down his stomach.

I swallowed and struggled to my own knees, pulling wet fabric away from my legs. "I am…in need of assistance in getting out of this dress," I said.

I liked Cosmo's smile; there was something secretive about it, as if the expression was entirely for my own eyes whether we were alone or not. He reached out, hooking his index finger in the collar of my dress, his touch sliding down between my breasts and yanking me forward. My balance failed, and I fell into Cosmo's chest, my face turned up to his as his mouth slanted over mine, tongue licking in immediately. I moaned into the kiss, my hands grabbing onto Cosmo's shoulders. There was a slightly bitter flavor between us, the taste of the lake, but it melted away the longer we kissed until there was only Cosmo and berries and honey.