Emmery waved Destonne away. “Go farther.”
“Now who’s bossy?” A playful glimmer shone in his eyes, but he obliged, sank beneath the surface, and emerged at the water’s edge then propped his elbows on a ledge. “Is this where you want me?”
Heart in her throat, Emmery eyed the distance. If she could swim this stretch, she could make it to that damn cave. Her memories were so close she could nearly taste them; the sweet relief of finally knowing. Of understanding, well, everything.
Once more, Emmery dove.
Her arms cut through the water, legs kicked in a flurry, every stroke measured, every move intentional, and her head bobbed above the water to steal air before she submerged again.
Nothing would stop her.Nothing.
Her body responded in whispered joy as her muscles launched her with renewed strength. With determination. Only a brief moment of panic stirred inside her when her lungs burned. She didn’t let it win. When her hands found Destonne’s, she burst into the crisp night air and the realization struck her.
She’d done it.
Emmery’s blood hummed with pure adrenaline and her magic sang in her veins. She wanted to shout her victory from the rooftops.
Aera chittered from above and flapped her wings. Leaves rained down around them in hues of scarlet and tarnished gold like victorious confetti.
A smile curled her lips as her chest swelled with triumph. And Destonne studied her with an expression she’d never seen. One she couldn’t place.
“I tried to tell you,” he said. His attention belonged wholly to her as he plucked a leaf from her hair and tossed it aside. His hand lingered and that touch tingled from her scalp to her toes. “If you truly believed in yourself, you could hold this world in the palm of your hand. Anything you desire could be yours.”
He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against his naked chest. With her hips against his hard stomach, her entire body craved to lean into him. Almost on instinct, her hand rose to his neck.
She just stared at him, the mint on his breath and his body warmth flooding her senses. Now it was all she could taste or touch or feel. She wanted to melt into it. For it to be everywhere.
And Destonne just felt so damngood.
“I couldn't have done this without you,” she said hesitantly. He would surely add it to the pool of arrogant thoughts eternally swimming in his mind.
“I told you I’m a good teacher,” he hummed, his voice full of the thing lingering in the air, that tension they’d been dancing around. A giggle crawled up her throat, and she didn’t hold it back. She let herself revel in the joy of her accomplishment.
But she lost her breath when he did the unthinkable.
Hesmiled.
And it knocked her aback. Maybe from the adorable lines that kissed his cheeks and the spark that brightened his eyes like hecame back to life, or maybe just that Emmery had never seen him share emotion. Not like this.
His smile was late summer sunshine, unfathomably warm and whole and an answer she hadn’t known she searched for. A carefully kept secret. As if this joy was special and rare, a peek behind a curtain. And she wanted to capture it, steal it, hoard it away like some treasure hungry dragon, and use it until she overflowed with his light.
He must have felt her melt into him, because his arms tightened and his gaze traced down her face to rest on her mouth, suddenly transfixed. Like he realized her answering smile was for him.
Her heart sped to a heated thrum in her throat and her attention narrowed on where their bodies met, how his skin glided against hers, how his embrace soothed something inside her, and damn her, Emmery’s betraying eyes drifted to his lips, too.
She couldn’t help herself.
Couldn’t help but wonder what they felt like. How soft they would be.
If he would kiss her back or laugh at her for ever thinking such things. If he would be gentle and hesitant, or rough and passionate. If the brush of his lips would entirely destroy her.
And if she would let it.
The urge to close that distance surfaced, small at first, but like a sponge plunged into water the desire to take that risk swelled, nonsensical and wrong. Yet, for a moment, while he gazed at her as if she held the universe in her eyes, it felt like Destonne wanted to take the risk, too. To take it with her.
But as her fingers tightened on his neck and she leaned in, he … hesitated. Began to pull away. Gently circled her wrist to remove her hand.
Her heart sank,plummeted, and his hesitation knocked clarity into her. All the extra touches, the sprinkled compliments, the harmless flirtation, and the threads of trust he sewed into her skin, warped into something ugly in her mind. Was he playing with her again? If he was, this was his cruelest game yet.