A Kingdom of Venom and Vows (Stars and Shadows #3)(43)

He shot forward, reaching out for me, and the predatory look on his face made me squeal and run before he could get a hold of me. I stepped through the library doors just as he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me from the ground.

Three sets of eyes turned in our direction, and I let out another laugh as Evren buried his face in my neck.

I shot my elbow backward, trying to get him to stop, but he only tightened his hold on me. He blew a strawberry against my neck, and the snort that escaped my lips was far too unladylike.

“Do you two need another moment?” I heard Jorah’s voice, but my feet still hadn’t hit the floor.

I elbowed Evren again, and he finally set me back on the ground before lifting his face from my neck. But his hands were still pressed flat against my stomach, his hold on me strong and sure.

“Sorry.” He pressed an almost unnoticeable kiss to the back of my head, and my stomach dipped. “Adara needed to be taught a quick lesson.”

My elbow shot back once again, this time connecting with his stomach, and a laugh shot out of him as his hands loosened around me. I stepped out of his hold, pushing my wild hair back out of my face, and I zeroed in on Thalia’s smiling face.

I headed in her direction immediately. “What’s going on?”

Even through my happiness, there was a tendril of fear that crept through me. I tried my hardest to block out memories of Gavril, of the fae kingdom, and when it was Evren and me alone, it was easy to do so.

But then reality would come crashing back in.

“Where’s everyone else?” Only Thalia, Sorin, and Jorah sat around the library with a few candles lit and a small fire roaring in the hearth.

“Asleep, I assume.” Thalia smiled up at me before holding up a deck of cards in her hands. “We’re having game night.”

A laugh bubbled up my throat as I looked from Thalia back to Evren. He walked up behind me, once again wrapping me in his arms, and that fear from a moment before dissipated.

“You made us get out of bed to come play a game?” Evren grumbled behind me.

“Not just any game.” Sorin lifted a large bottle of wine in each hand. “We’re playing drinking games.”

“For gods’ sake,” Evren cursed under his breath, but I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Are we on teams?” I pulled out the chair next to Sorin, and Evren finally released his hold on me long enough for me to sit. He helped me into my chair, pushing me up to the table once I was settled, then pulled the chair next to me as close as he could get it to me. “Are you trying to cheat?”

He wrapped his arms over the back of my chair as he settled back in his own, and he looked so relaxed. So content. “How am I supposed to cheat if we’re on teams?”

“Because I’d pick Thalia as my partner.” I looked across the table, and my friend was grinning like a fool.

Evren softly pinched my side, and I squirmed and shot a look back in his direction.

“What? We already beat you and Sorin once before.”

“This is true.” Thalia laughed as she began shuffling the cards. “You can’t break up a winning team like that.”

“No teams.” Sorin popped the cork on one of the bottles of wine before setting five glass mugs on the table.

“Every man for themselves.” Jorah leaned back in his chair as he smiled up at Thalia. I didn’t think I had ever seen him look so relaxed. “But watch out for Thalia. She really is a bit of a cheat.”

She scoffed and smacked at his chest. “I am not!”

Jorah caught her hand against him and lifted it to place a soft kiss against her knuckles. “Of course, not. How dare I accuse you of such a thing.” He winked at me dramatically, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

But when I looked back at Sorin, at the wine he was pouring, his gaze was burning into Jorah’s hand on Thalia’s. I knocked my knee against his under the table, and he blinked as if he hadn’t even realized he had been doing it.

He lifted his hand and with a small flick of his fingers, the mug slid in front of me, so full that a little sloshed over the edge before he used his magic to push one in front of Thalia. I had never seen him use his magic before, but I was too distracted by the look that ghosted over his face to ask him about it.

This man, who was always so full of himself, so full of nonsense, looked so unsure, and when I looked up at my friend, that same look passed over her gaze as she looked at him before quickly glancing away.

“What are the rules?” I asked my question to cut the tension, but I wasn’t sure that anyone felt it besides me. But gods, it felt as if it might snap between my two friends at any moment.

Jorah launched into the rules, a simple game of cards, as Thalia dealt the cards.

“And whoever loses has to drink from the bottle.”

“Of wine?” I laughed as I lifted the mug to my mouth and took a sip. I sighed around the sweet fruity flavor and decided then that losing at this game wouldn’t be so bad.

“Nope.” Sorin popped the word before pulling another bottle of alcohol from his side. “Of this.”

The bottle was filled with a dark brown liquor that I imagined burned when going down, and I wrinkled my nose.

“Just don’t lose,” Evren said from beside me as he leaned forward in his chair and collected his cards. He arranged them in his deft dark fingers, and I watched his face morph into one of concentration as he studied the cards before him.