The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(92)

“Blue? What are you doing out here? Are you all right?”

“You aren’t supposed to be here.”

He cocked his head. “I live here.”

“Not in the garden.” How was she supposed to avoid the longing she felt for him when he was standing right in front of her? “You should leave. Or I should leave. I’ll leave.”

She stayed exactly where she was. His hands ran down her arms, and the fizzy feeling exploded through her. She narrowed her eyes.

He really was making this impossible.

“I’m leaving.”

“So you said.” He leaned closer, until all that stood between them was the faint, hazy glow of the sun sifting in through the shirella trees. “But here you are.”

“Kellan.”

“Blue.” His voice was soft with longing, and his hands found hers, pressed close, and held. “Just stay here with me for a moment. One moment where we pretend nothing else exists. Will you do that?”

“Yes.” She breathed the word against all her better judgments.

Two more days, and he would belong to someone else. He wouldn’t hold her hand or show up for breakfast at the farmhouse. She wouldn’t ride horseback with him or sit with him on the shoreline while he trusted her with his heart.

His skin was warm against hers, and she tilted her head up to look at him. He smiled, though his eyes were sad.

“I’m not coming to the ball,” she said quietly, the decision made as the words left her mouth.

“But—”

“I can’t.” She met his gaze, begged him to understand what she didn’t want to say. What she had no right to say. “It will be hard enough without being there to witness it myself.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his fingers still tangled with hers. “I’ve made a mess of this whole thing. I shouldn’t have spent so much time with you. I shouldn’t have told you my secrets. And I shouldn’t have asked you to stay here with me. I had no right. I thought it was only my heart on the line, and that whatever time I spent with you would be worth the heartache afterward. I didn’t consider the possibility that your heart was on the line too. Please believe me. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you.”

Love. The word pierced Blue’s heart with all of its pain and possibilities. Two more days of possibilities with Kellan was all she had.

It was going to have to be enough.

She closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his. For an instant, the kiss was soft and sweet, and then he let go of her hands so he could wrap his arms around her and drag her against him. Nothing existed but the rough pressure of his mouth and the heat of his skin. She tilted her head to get a better angle, and someone cleared their throat behind her.

Blue jerked away from Kellan, and he took one look behind her and hastily dropped his arms. Turning, Blue found herself face-to-face with the queen.

“Your Majesty.” Blue fumbled into a curtsy, her cheeks flaming.

The only thing worse than being caught kissing the prince she had no claim to was being caught by his mother.

“Mother, I can explain,” Kellan said.

“Oh, I don’t think an explanation is needed.” The queen’s voice was calm, but there was fire in her eyes. “I’m not so old that I don’t remember stealing kisses in a garden.”

“It was one kiss,” Kellan said quietly. “It doesn’t change what has to happen in two days.”

The ache that had opened in Blue’s heart when Kellan said he loved her grew into something sharp.

“It’s not just one kiss,” the queen said firmly. “It’s you giving your heart to someone you can’t marry at the expense of the girl who will be your bride. And it’s you taking the heart of someone who can never have you.”

“He didn’t take what I didn’t offer,” Blue said. To her horror, tears threatened, and she blinked rapidly to keep them at bay.

“He shouldn’t have taken anything at all.” The queen smiled sadly at Blue. “We all love you, Blue. If I could pick the perfect girl for my son, I couldn’t find anyone better. But we would have a mutiny on our hands if the throne went to someone outside the head families. I have to think about the political consequences and the good of our kingdom. Kellan has to think about the good of our kingdom.” She aimed the last sentence like a dagger at her son.

“I have been,” he shot back, his voice rising. “I’ve played every game. Listened to every veiled threat, every pretty lie, every attempt to sway my opinion for the benefit of one head family over another. I’ve smiled and flirted and tried to protect all of us from dying over this.”

He turned and began pacing, frustration vibrating through him. “I’ve accepted that my own feelings can never be a priority. That what my heart wants isn’t important if that’s not what the kingdom needs. But for one moment—just one—before I commit to the betrothal, before I have to start playing another political game to bribe, cajole, or strong-arm the other families back in line, I wanted to kiss the girl I love.”

“Oh, Kellan,” his mother said.

“I’m sorry.” He turned to Blue. “I never meant to hurt you.”

She studied the torment on his face, felt the sharp ache of love in her chest, and decided their one moment wasn’t going to end with him apologizing.