Page 28 of Cruel Destinies

Then an idiotic thought occurred to me, and I jumped on the impulse. “Maybe you could...?” I let the question hang in the air.

She looked at me with confusion for only a second before the realization hit her and an eyebrow rose. “You wantmeto...?” She pointed at herself.

I lowered my eyes to hers and nodded slowly, feeling—and probably looking—very sheepish for asking.

“Would you? It’s just...” I paused. “She just got through healing me, and I don’t want to go in there...”

She watched me for another fraction of a second before her shoulders relaxed and she nodded, gripping my arm.

“Right. I’m sure I can manage.” Her voice didn’t sound as sure, but I had confidence in her abilities. Plus, she needed the practice, right?

Arya looked around, as if a gurney might magically appear in the hallway.

“Let’s go to the greenhouses.” I pointed in that direction. “Defense classes will be out soon and we won’t be bothered there.”

She hesitated for a moment, like the mention ofgreenhousesdisgusted or bothered her in some way. I couldn’t remember why that might be, though, and she quickly nodded.

I tried not to lean too heavily on her as we limped toward the greenhouses. Though my calf sent shooting pains up and down my leg with each movement, I set my jaw firmly to hold back any cries of pain. It was just a muscle, after all, I didn’t need to be pussy about it.

“How can we get in?” she asked when we reached the wooden structure. “Aren’t they locked? Wouldn’t we need a teacher to let us in?”

“Not right now,” I said, gesturing for her to push open the door to the nearest greenhouse. “They leave it open during school hours. Mrs. Sharp is supposed to supervise any students who come in, but I know for a fact she’s in a parent-teacher meeting with that cocky hound, Jackson.”

I also knew that Mrs. Sharp kept a few folding chairs near the entrance so at least I could sit. Cora and I might’ve knocked over a stack of them while we’d been...

Ah, that’s probably why Arya had looked that way. She’d heard about my little tryst with Cora. It seemed like forever ago. Arya had to know that waslongbefore she even arrived at the Dome.

If she knew about it, or was thinking about it, it didn’t show on her face.

“So, you hurt your leg?” she asked.

I wanted to correct her on it, but was reminded that Brett and Niko often told me it was rude to point things out like that, because if she’d pointed out the obvious, then something was either on her mind or she was nervous.

I recovered from my brief lapse of brain-to-mouth connection and nodded. “Yes, it’s on the back of my leg. I felt it snap in a spar.”

She winced as if she were the one who’d injured herself. “Ouch.”

The way she said it drew my eyes to her mouth. The way it formed anOand her eyebrows furrowed at the same time weirdly reminded me of the way she’d looked that night. When I’d lay barely conscious with shooting daggers of pain all over my body. She’d been so worried that I was dying. And I had been. But apparently, the job didn’t finish before they got me to the infirmary, because the imprint that bound me to her was absolutely, painfully still in place.

I’d kissed her. My presumably last act on this earth had been to pull her down and kiss her. And she’d kissed me back.

“Tobias?” she asked, ripping me from my thoughts.

Her voice held a nervous edge. Maybe she was thinking of that night, too? It wasn’t my preferred way of kissing a girl—of kissingthisgirl—and I needed to remedy that.

I took one limping step forward, watching her reaction. She didn’t step back, she didn’t avert her gaze or frown. She looked almost...expectant? Hopeful? Confidence rose in my chest, warm and glowing like my own fire.

Another half-step forward, and with one swift movement, I wrapped one arm around her waist, putting the other hand just behind her neck. Fingers entwined in her thick, silky hair, I pulled her into a kiss.

This time it wasn’t interrupted by that damned pain that was sucking away my life. No. Now my only injury—my stupid, brilliant injury that brought her back into my arms—had faded into the background. Our kiss deepened, and her fingers reached up into my hair.

Slowly, I moved her toward the wall of the greenhouse until my calf smarted and I broke the kiss for only a moment to search for a seat. Quickly sitting, I pulled her hand forward, silently asking permission. Her small smile and bright eyes met mine, and she allowed herself to be pulled forward and sideways onto my lap.

With both hands, I brushed the hair away from her shoulders, watching every miniscule movement of her beautiful face that mirrored the swirling emotions I felt.

This time, she leaned into me, and when she pressed her lips against mine, I dropped every guard I’d ever put up against this intoxicating girl.

Every guard except one.

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