Page 84 of Damned and Broken Gods
Araz looked over, and our gazes locked for a beat that sent heat spiraling through me. It seemed that I could feel desire even when about to potentially walk to my own death.
A giggle climbed up my throat, but I swallowed it.
Now was not the time to lose my shit.
“Land ahoy!” Bhartina yelled. I looked over my shoulder to see Jvalantar looming. The volcano, its only inhabitant, reached for the sky, dark and ominous, surrounded by a rocky beach, woodland, and not much else.
My stomach flipped and trembled as the splash of the anchor filled the space between my breaths.
“Leela.” Araz’s warm hand descended on my shoulder. “It’s time.”
I nodded mutely.
He scooped me up and climbed into the sea, carrying me to shore, his gaze locked on mine the whole way, reassuring me, lending me his strength. It unfurled in my chest, vibrating warm and certain below my ribs—his presence.
We got to shore too soon, and I clung to him for a moment, forgetting my resolve.
His brows pinched. “If you’ve changed your mind?—”
“No.” I forced myself to let go, boots kissing the pebble beach with a finality that made my teeth ache. “I’ll see you soon?”
He cupped my face in his warm hands, his gaze intense and hot as it skipped across my features as if memorizing them. “Iwillsee you soon. I’ll be waiting right here, but if you need me, all you need do is call. And Leela, Iwillcome for you. No matter the consequences.”
I believed him. But calling him to help would forfeit this challenge. “I’ll be fine.” I smiled up at him, injecting confidence into the beam. “I’ll see you soon.” This time, my words didn’t come out as a question, but as I made to break free of him, he tightened his grip and lowered his mouth to mine—soft, reverent, a promise sealed in heat and breath.
My pulse hummed, warmth trickling through my limbs.
He broke the kiss, his lashes at half mast, his lips still grazing mine. “Please come back to me,” he whispered, and the last of my resolve, the last of my will not to love this male, melted.
I pulled away, trembling and weak with the revelation, boots grinding on rocks and stone, mouth quivering, aching to say words that would undo our vow of friendship.
It hurt to push them back. To swallow them, smile, and say, “Always.”
I turned and hurried away before my will weakened, striding up the rocky beach toward the treeline.
Don’t look back. Don’t fucking look back.
But something tugged at my solar plexus, and I broke.
I looked back.
He stood, arms loose at his sides, watching me walk away.
This time when I turned away, I ran.
Not from him.
From myself.
The forest closedin around me, stopping at the trail that led to the mountain, as if the track was sacred and nature dared not impose on it. My boots made no sound on the hard-packed earth as I hurried toward the mountain. It wasn’t far, maybe a fifteen-minute walk. This whole island was practically a mountain.
Silence pressed in on me, and a cracking sound to my left brought me up short.
As far as I’d been made aware, there were no animals on this isle. Maybe a few birds, although now I stopped to listen, the usual sound of nature was absent, as if the whole isle was holding its breath.
Goosebumps pinched my skin, and I picked up the pace. If there was something lurking in the woods, then I wasn’t about to stand around to make its acquaintance.
A tunnel in the mountain sounded real good about now.
