Chapter 13: The Open Door

I lasted until the lamps in the guest wing went out.

Then I put on my coat over my nightshirt and walked the whole length of the family wing in bare feet.

The stone floor was cold, and I did not feel it.

Past the long window, the last door stood open a hand's width, and a bar of lamplight lay across the boards.

I pushed it with two fingers.

Cormick was standing at the cold fireplace in his shirtsleeves, with his back to me and one hand braced on the mantel.

He had been standing like that for a while. I could tell by his shoulders.

"You said it was open," I said.

He turned around.

Neither of us moved.

"I told you where I was," he said. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Then you don't know me."

"I'm learning." His voice was rough. "Close the door, Seren."

I closed it behind me and turned the key.

The click was very loud.

He crossed the room and stopped an arm's length from me, still not touching.

"Terms," I said, and I was smiling. "Partner only."

"Burned."

"Say it again."

"I burned them in the grate at midnight." He lifted his hand to my face. "Tell me to leave you alone and I will."

"Don't you dare."

He kissed me.

It was not like the lawn, with the cold stone and the owl and the danger of being found.

There was a door between us and everyone else, and he took his time.

His mouth moved over mine and then along my jaw and down my throat to the place where my pulse beat, and he stayed there until my knees gave.

He caught me under the arms and walked me backward until the edge of the bed hit my legs.

My coat was on the floor. I did not remember him taking it.

"Look at me," he said.

I looked.

His eyes were silver all the way across, and his hands were shaking where they held my hips.

"Three years," he said. "I stood in that circle three years and I wanted to smell anything. Now I can't think for it."

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