Page 77 of Prisoner of Steel and Shadow

They finished walking the length of the arch and were about halfway through the final straightway when the music floated to them on the breeze. Realizing that this might be his only opportunity to press his advantage and make use of the fact they were currently alone together, Ronan reached out a hand and stopped her movement.

“Dance with me.”

She let out a little laugh. “Funny.”

“I’m serious.”

Her brow furrowed. “What, here? Do you even know how to dance?”

“Of course I know how to dance. Anyone can sway to a beat.”

Some of the laughter faded from her eyes as she realized he was serious. “I’d pay to see that, but you know we can’t, Ronan.”

“Why not?”

“Oh, I don’t know, one of a hundred reasons. Because we’re in the middle of the hallway? Because anyone could come along and see us? Because you and Icannotbe seen together.”

He closed the distance between them, catching a whiff of the intoxicating scent he’d come to associate with her—night-blooming jasmine and a hint of cedar—as he pressed a hand to her lower back and drew her body so close it all but touched his.

“So what?”

“So what?” she parroted.

He took a few steps sideways, towing her with him as he moved them into the darkness of one of the alcoves. “Better?”

“Ronan...” But he could tell her heart wasn’t in the protest. Already her mask had fallen to the floor so she could rest her palms on his shoulders. She wasn’t attempting to push him away; she was clinging to him.

There was just enough light in the private nook for him to make out her features. She was staring up at him, her expression a mix of wistfulness and confusion. He knew she didn’t understand this pull between them. She’d been fighting it, but her resistance was crumbling.

This was it.

Thiswas the moment he’d been waiting for. His chance to break Reyna’s memories free of the prison Erebos trapped them within.

Heart thundering in his ribs, Ronan cupped her face in both his hands. Dipping his head down until his forehead rested against hers, he swept his thumbs over her cheeks and whispered, “Do you have any idea how long I’ve searched for you? What losing you did to me? I barely survived it the first time, kitten. I know I won’t make it through a second.”

Her lips parted, but he pressed his finger against them, halting her words.

“If this is the last time I get to hold you, if this is my last chance to know what it feels like to be whole, I don’t care how many reasons there are why we shouldn’t. I refuse to spend another second pretending my heart isn’t yours.”

With those words hanging between them, Ronan’s lips crashed down on hers.

CHAPTER23

SHADOW

The second his lips met hers, the chaos of her mind fell silent. Instead of a litany of all the reasons she should get as far away from here as possible, there was only him and the warmth of his hands cupping her cheeks... the press of his thigh between the vee of her legs... the velvety scrape of his stubble against her skin... the taste of him on her tongue... the soft growl of need rumbling through his chest and into hers.

“Mine,” he breathed against her lips before claiming her mouth once more.

Yes.

She might have spoken the word aloud; she wasn’t exactly sure. She wasn’t sure of anything, really, except how perfectly they fit together. It was like he was the key and she the lock. He was the only one in existence with the power to crack open the shriveled black muscle she called a heart. The only one who could teach it how to love.

It should have scared her. If she’d been thinking clearly—or at all—it would have.

But there was no thinking.

Only him.

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