Page 36 of Godless Saints

Not just because of the kiss, though fuck, that kiss still burned on my tongue. It was the panic that ripped across his face the second Korolev’s footsteps hit. Pure fucking terror. Not of me. Of being seen with me.

I raked a hand through my hair.

They’d drilled that poison into him since birth. And he still kissed me back. I felt him hard against me. He wanted this. Wanted me.

So I’d keep pushing until he stopped running.

He never pushed me away until the footsteps came. Then panic. Right after he dragged me in and kissed me like he’d die if he didn’t.

Moon Hyun-seo kissed me back.

I didn’t think it. I knew it.

Every instinct screamed to follow him right now. I took another step, then stopped. He’d hate me for it. Too fucking controlled for the likes of me. But I still wanted to.

My phone buzzed.

LESS FUN TWIN:

I’d like to talk to you.

I snorted. Fucking perfect. Aleksei. Just what I needed, a Lovchy lecture while I was still hard and buzzing with adrenaline.

I typed back.

Meet you in the courts in twenty.

I shoved the phone in my pocket and rubbed both hands over my face, hard, trying to scrape the want out. Didn’t fucking work.

I left the gallery before I gave in and hunted him down. ‘Stay away from me’ didn’t mean shit when his body had begged for the opposite.

Halfway down the corridor my hand slipped into my pocket. I pulled his stupid penguin keychain from my pocket and spun it on my finger.

His.

Stolen fair and square.

I closed my fingers around it hard enough to feel the edges bite and kept walking. Patience, they call it. I call it bullshit. Fine. I could wait. For now.

I headed downstairs. The strategy room waited—dark stone, red banners, weapons on the walls like decoration. I dropped into the chair at the head of the table, boots up, and poured whiskey I had zero plans of drinking.

My body still hadn’t gotten the message. Still thinking about Moon’s thighs clamped around me and that perfect little twitch against my leg.

Annoying as hell.

Somewhere on campus, Moon was probably trying to pretend he hadn’t almost come apart with a cartoon penguin digging into his ribs. I smiled into the untouched glass.

The door opened. Aleksei walked in first. Misha followed, unusually quiet. I kept my boots on the table.

“Five Favor,” Aleksei said, no greeting. “Gone in one afternoon.”

I tilted my head. “I can do worse.”

Misha sank into the chair across from me. “I had money on double digits.”

Aleksei didn’t smile. “The Writ needs to move. Before the Ivory bout.”

I took a slow sip of whiskey. “Define move.”