Page 140 of Hidden Kingdoms

I knew it was Bastian without needing to see his face. The fire silhouetted his large frame, golden curls moving slightly from the force of the fire.

“I know lots of things, Bas,” Kaius said, running his hands through his hair.

The flames roared in response, and Kaius laughed. “I see you’re wearing your cranky pants today then. Maybe calm down, it’s too early for this.”

“I am calm,” Bastian gritted out.

“That fire would say differently.” I turned then, and saw that the fire was spitting and hissing, flames fighting to escape the confines of the alcove. I flinched away, the fear of my dreams still residing within me. Kaius watched it too, face now tensed in discomfort as he rubbed at his chest.

“People saw her.”

“So?”

“They saw the power she holds, that she’s a match for us.” Kaius sat up then, heavy boots thudding onto the floor.

“I fail to see your point. If you’re going to tell me your dick don’t twitch just a bit watching her using all that power, then you’re a liar.”

“Focus on your own dick.”

“Oh, I do,” Kaius said, his tongue flicking over his bottom lip.

“Our magik connected, Kaius,” Bastian said, frowning into the fire.

“And that’s giving you a face like a smacked ass because?”

Bastian scowled, and the flames cracked and hissed as his friend’s eyes sparkled deviously. “Because it didn’t need to happen!”

“Right.” Kaius laughed. “You can sit in that denial for as long as you need, but you know she saved all our sorry asses yesterday.”

Bastian only grunted in reply, eyes focused on the dancing heated tongues.

“I’m going to tell her.”

“Tell her what?” Bastian turned then, emerald eyes fighting with the flames I knew lay hidden beneath.

“She deserves the truth.”

Bastian nodded, his shoulders tensing. “And what about your truth, will you be telling her that?”

“Everything. Anything. Whatever she wants, basically.”

“That’s not your?—”

“It’s mine just as much as it is yours. We should have come clean from the beginning, and I can’t keep—"Kaius cut himself off, sighing heavily as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

“Can’t keep what?” Bastian’s eyes narrowed.

Kaius ran a hand over his face before pushing up from the sofa. “I can’t keep being around her and not giving her the full story. Plus, I have a feeling she will be staying a while.”

“And why would that be when all she’s ever demanded is to be taken home?”

“Call it my innate ability to read the future.”

Bastian rolled his eyes, an easy laugh leaving him. His posture relaxed just a fraction, and my eyes widened at the sound that was so far removed from anything I’d heard from him. “You can do no such thing, Kaius.”

“Sure, I can. My great-grandmother on my father’s side was a Seer,” he said as they crossed the room together, heading towards a closed door. I drifted behind them.

“No, she wasn’t.” Bastian punched his arm in that way men did with their friends that had me blinking in disbelief.

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