Page 101 of Season Warriors & Wolves

He laughed, downing the rest of the drink. “Perhaps,” he said, kissing me, letting me taste the flavour on his lips and tongue. “This is better?”

“Delectable,” I hummed, sucking on his lips, licking the flavour away.

He showered every inch of my face with pecks. “What do you see when you close your pretty eyes?”

“I think you know, Kil.” He knew. Filled in between the lines. The only thing missing were the details which I was still not sure I wanted him to know.

His chest rose quicker. “Let me help you.”

“You can’t banish them away this time, darling, the monsters are human. They don’t even hide in the dark anymore. Not even scared of me, no matter how much stronger and worse I am.” I ran my hand over his heart, not knowing how to calm it any other way. “But they are afraid of you. So do not leave me.”

“Why are they afraid of me?”

“Because you are powerful, and you can do very bad things to them.”

He weaved a strong hand through my hair. “You are powerful, too.”

“They still have chains on me, Kil. You can’t see them.”

His face fell and steeled like iron all at once. “Tell me how to break them.”

“It must be me. It has to be me.”

“Then let me help you.”

I looked up at him, realising that I’d found the pure absence of madness again, the same comfort I’d found in Isjord by my mother’s grave. It was him. Why everything had quieted down again. It had always been him. The reason my nightmares had disappeared entirely. “Alright. Help me.”

“Shall we try to sleep again? I won’t leave you, ever.”

When my mind screamed, begged and pleaded to say no, I said, “Yes.”

Then I let them scream and beg and plead far in the distance. Watched them crawl deeply far back inside the pits where they’d raised from. Until they were entirely gone. And gone was the weight on my chest, my wrists and my neck. Gone. My mind was anew when I laid my cheek on his chest, when I breathed in the scent of lemon blossoms from his skin.

Chapter twenty-three

White Bishop to G5

Snowlin

Kilian was still giving Thora and Visha orders even though he’d been repeating them like a song for the past hour. The two were struggling to keep awake at this point.

He sighed and turned to face me, scowling while he closed our distance. “You’re looking too happy while leading me to a heart attack, love of mine.”

“You trust me so little,” I said, shedding every piece of metal from my body. Steel acted like a conduit sometimes, helping me channel magic in a more controlled manner, but considering that I was about to test my limits, I did not need any conduits or control.

He helped me unstrap belts and weapons, making sure to linger his touch over my body for a fraction longer. “Trust is not my issue.”

I cupped his jaw and buried my face in his neck, inhaling his taunting scent for a moment. “I know.”

“The day you walked out of here,” he said, a finger pointing on his heart. “Was the last day of not fearing. Can’t say I don’t miss feeling untouchable.”

“You are untouchable, Night King.”

His knuckles bumped my chin lightly. “How can you say that when my heart walks around with the mind of a rock and no sense of danger.”

“You will protect me.”

“I failed more than once.”