He’s still smiling, but his tone is biting as he murmurs. His body heat mingles with mine and I inhale him in, mint and fresh clothes out of the dryer and… Is that a hint of alcohol?

“Or I can go to him at Elsa’s since he never leaves her side.” He steps closer and it takes everything in me not to push back. “Since I decided I can.” His shit-eating grin never disappears. “No, he’s not.” I lean over to hiss to Xander, “Since when do you go out with us?” “We’re going to Elsa.” Kir clutches Xander’s hand with his free one. The harder I stare, the closer I am to the bottom. Keeping eye contact with him is like drowning into the ocean of his irises. And now that I’ve sworn to meet him head-on, it’s getting exhausting. It used to be easy when I had the habit of averting that punishing gaze, when I pretended that this would be over soon. When we were kids, I thought magic was the reason behind the colour of his eyes. His light eyes are drawing a dark path into my soul, all paved with thorns. “Depends.” He’s speaking to my brother, but his entire unnerving attention is on me. “Do you have things to do, Xan?” Kir asks him as he pulls me so the three of us are standing near the middle of the street. He’ll never grant it, and I’ll just be hurting myself. This is what we’ve become and there’s no changing it, no matter how much I want – or rather, wanted to. Or maybe, if I had some sort of a time machine, I would go back seven years in the past and not do what I’ve done.īut time machines don’t exist. If it were up to me, I would erase him completely from my existence.

Black knight by rina kent