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I make eye contact with Maren, and she winks at me before standing. "Raya, can you show me the way to the garden? I seem to have forgotten since my last visit."
Raya looks to the king for permission, and he nods, the helm moving up and down once. "We'll be in the library."
The Eyes all look at each other, then at me, and lastly the king before sharing knowing smiles and vanishing into thin air, leaving behind only a wisp of smoke that slowly dissipates.
"So that's it?" Colm asks. "We are just done for today? Again. Because of some boy's inability to resist a woman?"
"I guess so," Kairon tells him. "Dinner will be served in your rooms. Perhaps you can ask him about it since you're right next to each other."
"I would sooner gouge my ears out than hear of it," he sneers.
Walking away, Kairon mutters under his breath, "There's an idea."
Following closely behind him, I bite my lips between my teeth to keep from snickering. I've been to the library a few times since coming here, but never with Kairon. He's always had me escorted by Raya or one of his other guards.
When we enter the room, it takes me by surprise again, the same as always. There's no getting over beauty and opulence like this. Not in 100 lifetimes could I read all the books in here. I'm frozen, staring in awe. The roof is entirely made of glass, letting the sunshine light the way through the room. Against the far wall, stained glass windows offer a multicolor peek at the ocean below.
"Come," the king breaks me out of my reverie. "I've been searching for this book for weeks now, and I've finally found it."
"That's what we're here for?" I laugh. "I thought you needed to speak with me about something."
"Well, I can't very well say, 'Elva, come to the library with me so we can read about dragons', can I?" he asks as he lifts his cloak over his head.
As he does, the shirt he wears underneath it lifts, showing me just the tiniest sliver of his skin. It's sunkissed even there, incredibly toned, with a perfect V-shape carved into his hips from the muscle and a line of dark hair that disappears under the waistband of his indecently low pants.
I breathe out through my nose, trying to calm my racing heart. I swear to the gods he's taking the cloak and helm off slowly on purpose, letting me remain caught in the storm of his perfection.
Placing the cloak and helm on a nearby desk, he shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair, leaving it disheveled and messy and so godsdamn tempting. I wonder for the hundredth time if it's as soft as it looks.
For a moment, images of him between my legs plague me again, but this time, my hands are buried in that lush head of hair, holding him against me as he uses his wicked tongue on me again, with nothing between us.
"Elva." The Kairon in front of me pulls me from my fantasy with the other one. "Are you alright?"
"Mhmm," I answer. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He narrows his eyes, equal parts playful and suspicious. "Come on, it's over here."
In the back of the library, away from the windows and skylight, there is a small table with a single book, a lamp, and two chairs.
Just looking at this set-up feels intimate. The chairs are far too close together, and the light is too dim. He guides me with a hand on my lower back, and the contact is so hot it threatens to scald me.
Rather than take a seat and risk being within his reach, I stand at the far side of the table. I gently spin the book, its spine crumbling with age, the language written on the front long forgotten. I open it, and the first page is covered in that same writing, scribbled on every inch.
"Do you know what it says?" I ask the king.
He somberly shakes his head. "I wish. The only bits of that language known to us are fire and breath. Dregg and Kin. Dragon. Or Drakken."
Turning another page, my breath stops. Countless pictures of the creatures cover the wilting, yellowed book. They are beautiful, scaled creatures with wings so large they overshadow their entire bodies.
Some have two legs, some four, and some none at all. But all of them resemble each other, with iridescent scales and long pointed mouths full of sharp teeth. They have serpentine eyes and heads, with powerful, muscular bodies and feet much like birds with sharp talons.
"They're gorgeous," I breathe.
The heat of Kairon's body presses against my back as he reaches one arm past me to flip to the next set of pictures. A dragon is depicted with its terrifying mouth wide open, a stream of blue and red fire exiting its mouth and demolishing everything in sight.
The picture is so stunning and terrifying, yet I can't focus on it with him so close to me. Can't breathe, much less think.
"Your Majesty," my voice comes out shaky and breathy. I should tell him to step away and keep a distance between us, but I can't.
