Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(62)

“I hate him,” Valmont spoke in a voice so quiet she barely heard him.

And the situation had gone from funny to tragic. “You have no reason to be jealous.”

Valmont laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “You’re going to marry him, aren’t you?”

How could she answer that question? “There is the possibility I will have to marry him, but it won’t be real. I will never want to sit and hold hands with him like this. I will never want him to kiss me. I will never care about him the way I care about you. Does that help?”

“It does.” Valmont squeezed her hand. “But I still hate that you’re going to be bound to him.”

“Only on paper.” How else could she reassure him? “I know it must be hard thinking about me being with him. The idea makes me nauseous, too, but don’t let that distort what we have.”

Valmont took a deep breath and then let it out. He raised his gaze and stared into Bryn’s eyes. “And what do we have?”

And the moment was here. Time to step up and say what she felt and hope he felt the same way. Because if he didn’t… She couldn’t even think about that. It was too painful.

“What we have is something wonderful. Something worth holding on to. Something we shouldn’t throw away based on insecurities and fear and the idiocy of the Directorate.” She leaned in and brushed her nose against his. “You’re my knight. I’m your dragon. No one can take that away from us.”

Her heart thumped in her chest as she waited for him to respond. As every second ticked by, she feared she’d said too much.

“You’re mine.” His face was so close to hers she could feel the warmth of his breath as he spoke. He moved so his mouth lined up with hers and whispered, “My dragon.” And then he kissed her. Magic flowed through their bond. The flying sensation zinged through her body, and she felt him draw back for a second before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

A knock on the door had Valmont jerking away from Bryn so quickly, it made her dizzy.

“What the hell?” Bryn shot him a dirty look.

He didn’t seem to notice as he stalked to the door. “Who is it?”

There was no answer. Valmont put his hand on the doorknob.

“Don’t.” Bryn scrambled to her feet. “People have a habit of wiring bombs to doorknobs around here.”

“We walked through that door two hours ago.”

“Yes, which would have given someone ample time to mess with it. Plus why would someone knock and then run away? The only reason to do that is to play a prank on someone or do something worse.”

“You make a valid point.” Valmont moved away from the door. “We could fly down and go in the front entrance, climb the stairs and see what’s out there.”

“We could.” Bryn worked to phrase her next suggestion carefully. “Or I could call Rhianna. She’s just down the hall.”

“You know damn well Jaxon is probably with her and he would be the one coming to investigate.”

“Maybe.” Bryn tried to look like she didn’t think that was the case even though she knew it was. What was the best diplomatic tact to take? “You choose. We can fly down and come back up the stairs to check it out, or we can make a phone call.”

“No contest. We’re flying.”

Wow. She hadn’t thought he’d go that route. Too late to second guess his male pride now. “Okay.”

They climbed out the window to the terrace. Bryn shifted and whipped her tail around for Valmont to use it as a step. Once he was seated on her back, magic flowed between them, making her feel more connected to him and stronger because of him.

“Hold on.” She launched herself off the terrace and up into the sky, reveling in the sensation of cool evening wind on her wings.

“The door is down that way,” Valmont said.

The yearning to fly made the mystery of the door seem not so important. “Whatever is outside my door will still be there in a few minutes.”

“Unless it’s a bomb,” Valmont said. “In which case the entire building could be gone in a matter of minutes.”

Well, crap. She couldn’t argue his logic, but that didn’t mean she had to be happy about it. “Way to ruin a perfectly good flight.”

“You know I’m right.”

Why did she have the childish urge to mock him by repeating what he said in a superior tone? That wasn’t like her. It wasn’t nice. Not that she was always sweetness and light, but this was Valmont. Gah. The desire to fly was messing with her head.

“Fine.” She dived toward the ground and landed in the grassy area across from the dorm entrance. She dug her talons into the turf, in an attempt to steady her landing and ended up jolting forward ripping up hunks of sod. She really needed to figure this landing thing out. Valmont dismounted, and she shifted back.

Without commenting, Valmont helped her stomp the chunks of sod back in place and then they headed inside the Blue dorm. Heads turned, about a third of them acknowledged her with a quick glance and then went back to what they were doing. A few gave a polite nod. Mostly those who she’d healed after the attack over Christmas break. She mirrored their polite nods. The rest of the Blues stared through her. Gee, that never gets old.

She headed up the stairs with Valmont by her side.