Page 204 of A Liar's Twisted Tongue

I pull away, only for a second, only hoping that my eyes will speak the words my tongue fails to.

I feel it too.

The intensity of his gaze tells me he understands as he reaches up around me and pulls the pin from my braid. Hair cascades around me.

I feel his calloused hand as he holds my cheek, his thumb grazing my jaw, then my lips. He looks at me how I look at the sea—lost to its magnificence, wishing I could steal some for myself.

Then he kisses me.

His hands come to their place on my waist as he pulls me closer, impossibly close, like this space between us can be remedied on a level deeper than physicality. The hands that move down my body set a path of blazing hot fire everywhere they go, awakening every inch of me that they touch.

I’m trying to catch my breath in the milliseconds between the merging of our lips when his hand presses into the small of my back. I arch against him, his lips moving to my neck. I am unable to suppress every moan that escapes me when he finds what must be a delicious spot on my neck because he won’t stop kissing it. And I would do anything to make sure he never does.

My back hits the wall with a thud, and with his lips on my neck and one hand on my back, I pull his face to mine and crash my lips into his. Taking every kiss like it’s the last human feeling I’ll ever experience. Taking every touch like they absolve my lack of morality. His tongue slips past mine, deeper into my mouth, and mine does the same.

I kiss down his chin, to his neck, and stop on the apple of his neck. The sound of his groaning is more than gratifying, and my hands track down his torso, finding their way underneath the edge of his shirt and touching him the way I think I’ve longed to for months now.

Touching him like he’s mine.

The music stops and the chattering from downstairs resumes, but it feels miles away. Especially when Lucian’s hands grip my thighs and pull me up his body. My legs wrap around his waist like that’s where they belong.

He carries me to the bed, dropping me down and kissing me, kissing me, kissing me. From my lips to my cheek to my ear down my neck to my collarbone until I crave for these lips to touch every inch of my body.

I sit up while he kisses me, desperately trying to untie the corset, but my hands won’t stop fumbling when his reach behind me. In one easy movement, I feel the corset come loose, falling from my top.

I push up, putting myself on top of him, tugging off his shirt and pulling his chest to me so we can be as close as possible. Skin on skin on skin. My fingers graze his cheeks, jaw, lips.

He’s so impossibly beautiful.

How am I kissing this boy? Skin to skin with a prince.

There’s a knock on the door, but neither of us are in the right mind to answer it, and his lips come to mine.

Another knock.

Then the door crashes to the floor.

Chapter 42

Doing What You Have To Isn’t Easy

DESDEMONA

Soma is the world with the fewest casualties and deaths of civilians, losing only 10,000 of their population of 300,000. In the few remaining tomes, we can see that the reason they came out nearly unscathed is because of the hands-off policy they adopted; the enemy didn’t attack, and they didn’t protect.

— THE TRUTH OF THE ARCANIAN WAR (UNPUBLISHED)

Lucian pulls my corset back over my chest—as if it will stay without being tied—and has his shirt in his hand at once when he whispers, “The window!”

Holding the top of my dress to me, I run for it, prying it open while soldiers rush into the room.

And I’m out of throwing knives.

It really ain’t over til the bones turn to ash. I scale my way down the building, desperately trying not to look down. It’s already hard enough with my dress half on and half in my hands. I look ahead of me, waiting for Lucian to come out, and when he does, he’s holding another coat.

No doubt for me, but it’s only going to slow him down. I’m about to tell him to discard it when he shouts, “Go!”

I descend faster, and when I’m a few feet from the floor, I jump, the thick, cold snow breaking my fall. Lucian jumps down next to me, grabs my free hand, and runs.

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