Page 69 of The Golden Rose Of Valenul

“You were here first.” But she did not turn the knob. She only watched him and wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms and cry.

But that was not how she left him last. No, after he had dragged her from the darts game and she punched him in the face, she refused to speak with him again. Gods be damned if she did not keep up that façade. She would not let him see her break.

“I’m done anyway.” Azriel set the book on a table and stepped closer. “Excuse me.”

Ariadne turned back to him and set her jaw. “Why are you acting like this?”

Azriel frowned, searching her face for a long moment. “What are you talking about?”

“Gods!” She stepped forward. The anger rushed back as she recalled the last two weeks. “First, you stand up for me and nearly get yourself killed. Then you pushed me away. You pushed me away when I needed you.”

Tears swarmed her vision. She blinked them back, the heat in her chest boiling over. No, she could not let him see her upset. Her throat burned as she held back the teeming emotions.

“Miss Harlow,” he said and swallowed hard, “this is inappropriate. I must leave.”

Ariadne moved closer again. “No. No. You abandoned me these last two weeks. Just disappeared!”

“Please.” His voice cracked. “I have to leave. If the General finds you alone with me, he will have my head.”

“Leave him out of this,” she hissed. She could not bear hearing him speak Loren’s title. “That is not what this is about.”

“But it is,” he breathed. “It is.”

“You were supposed to be my friend, Azriel,” she said, unable to keep the pain from her words. “My friend and you left me.”

Azriel froze, eyes wide, at the sound of his name. He shook his head, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. “We were never and can never be friends.”

“But why not?” Her lips quivered, and his gaze dipped to her mouth, brows pulling up in concern.

Gods, they were so close now. She wanted him to hold her. Needed him to wrap his arms around her and shield her from the world. To reassure her that everything would be alright. To kiss her. It was all she could think about now that she was alone with him.

When next he spoke, it was a whisper on a breath as he searched her face. He pushed a curl back from her face with steady fingers, tucking it behind her ear. His thumb lingered against her cheek as he shook his head. “It would be wrong, Ariadne.”

She wanted to scream. The way he said her name made her skin alight. It was like a skeptic begging the gods for forgiveness—filled with worship and infinite devotion. She could survive on the luxurious bass of his voice saying her name alone.

“Maybe,” she whispered, so close to him now that if she were to inhale deep, they would touch. “Maybe I do not care anymore.”

The library door opened in a rush. Azriel lurched back, creating space between them in an instant. It gaped wide, like an ocean separating continents that tried so hard to meet. Ariadne whipped around to face the intruder, already missing the feel of his hand on her face.

Emillie stood in the doorway, eyes wide as she looked between them.

All it took was one call from her to their father, and that would be the end of everything. For them to have been found alone and so, so close would have dire consequences. Ariadne would be punished most severely by her father for such a thing.

But Azriel? He would be killed.

Pure panic coursed through Ariadne’s veins as she awaited her sister’s decision. Each heartbeat became an agonizing eternity.

Then Emillie turned her wide gaze to Ariadne and whispered, “They are coming.”

Someone screamed. Maybe it happened in Azriel’s head alone, but the scream echoed so loud that every other sound in the world disappeared. Nothing else existed aside from her. Ariadne was all that mattered in that moment—gods, she was all that mattered in any moment.

And to have been so close…

How he’d managed to control the bond’s urge to pull her to him and claim her mouth with his, he had no idea. Yet he had long enough for that damned door to open, ruining everything.

Azriel didn’t look at Emillie as she closed the door behind her, those words clanging around his brain. They are coming. They didn’t make sense even as they struck terror into him. Who was coming? Why should he care?

Emillie shut the door and looked at him with eyes so much like Ariadne’s. “You need to leave. Now.”

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