The Swindler and the False God - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I looked at Xize.

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

Outside the window, the wind stirred the white roses, their branches tapping against the glass.

Once.

Then again.

As if someone were counting down the last moments for us.

I reached for the key.

Sure enough, he caught my hand.

In the next instant, my other hand climbed to his shoulder, and I tipped my head up to kiss him.

Xize went rigid.

He didn’t respond right away.

But he didn’t push me away, either.

I bit him.

Very lightly.

But it was enough to make his breathing deepen.

In a low voice, he said, “Miya.”

“Weren’t you going to kiss me?”

I smiled against the corner of his mouth.

“Lord Saint, are you going back on your word?”

At last, he raised his hand and clasped the back of my neck.

This time, there was no glove.

His palm was shockingly hot.

When his kiss came down, my back hit the edge of the desk.

The key was jolted loose and rolled to the floor.

I heard the sapphire strike the wooden boards.

I also heard the low, restrained gasp caught in Xize’s throat.

He kissed nothing like a Saint.

Even less like a novice.

Once a restrained man finally let go, he knew better than anyone how to make someone tremble.

I clutched his lapels, my knuckles whitening with the force of it.

He paused against my lips.

“Does it hurt?”

I was breathless as I laughed.

“Isn’t it a little late to ask that?”

He looked at me, his gaze so dark it seemed ready to swallow me whole.

But his hand still rested at my waist, going no lower.

He was waiting.

Waiting for me to say he could.

That kind of waiting was more lethal than any loss of control.

I turned my head and leaned close to his ear.

“Xize.”

His breath sank.

“Mm.”

“The key fell.”

He closed his eyes.

As if he had finally awakened from something.

I seized the moment when his focus slipped and bent down to pick up the key.

The moment my fingers touched the sapphire, he pinned me down.

One of us above, one below-our position was absurdly compromising.

I looked at him.

“Caught me?”

His voice was terribly hoarse.

“Caught you.”

“Then are you going to tie me up?”

Xize looked at me for a long time.

Then he pressed the key into my palm.

I froze.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Possibly.”

“The sacred relic can’t leave the White Tower.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

He closed my fingers around it for me.

“Miya, tonight, I wasn’t tricked into leaving by you.”

“I’m the one who chose to break my vows.”