Page 22 of Godless Saints

Advance. Parry. Riposte.

Almost.

His gaze dropped to my wrist, right where his thumb had dragged over my pulse the night before. My grip tightened automatically.

One look and the Aster standard slipped another measurable inch. I ripped the mask off, crossed the strip with the foil still in my hand, and stopped close enough that the point angled between us like a warning I didn’t fully mean.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Cillian pushed off the doorframe.

“Watching.”

“Get out.”

“In a minute.”

His eyes moved over the mask in my hand, the foil angled at his chest, the sweat at my throat, then my mouth.

Slow and too fucking obvious.

“Jal… hae-sseo-yo?”

I stopped dead. The pronunciation was absolute shit, but he had tried. Specifically.

Jal-haess-eo-yo.

You did well.

My grip tightened on the foil until the leather creaked.

Do not correct him. Do not give him that. “Jal-haess-eo-yo,” I said.

Mother was Korean. We only ever spoke Korean together. She knew I liked men. Never asked me to change. Only ever asked me to choose someone in the same circle.

Of all the men in the world… Cillian fucking Ashbourne. I had corrected him. Worse, I had wanted to. Ugh. Annoying.

Cillian repeated it instantly, still roughened by his Irish accent but closer this time.

I should have put the foil against his throat.

“Teach me.”

“No.”

“Pity.” Cillian’s attention shifted to my mouth. “Bet Zara King gets better fucking manners from you.”

“Leave her out of this.”

“You dragged her into it.” He stepped closer. “I’m not playing some love triangle bullshit. Dump her.”

I put my back to him. “I already dumped you. Goodbye.”

He cut in front of me, fast, blocking the path. “You can fool the rest of them with your little public dates and Gallery photos. I don’t give a shit. I’m not losing to someone who doesn’t even want you. I do. You’re mine. So end it with her.”

I met his eyes. He wasn’t lying. That was the worst part.

“I can’t do this, Cillian. Not in public.” My voice stayed cold. “Stop following me. This… us… it’s never happening.”