Will Of The Fates

3.

The contact made a fire roar through my body. He had me pressed against a tree, his hand on my lower back and one on the back of my head to cushion the impact. I didn't care. Nothing could have moved me away from him now.

My hands slid up his neck to thread my fingers through his hair. I pulled him down as I arched my body against him. He moaned, and so did I as he shoved a leg in between mine.

My lips were nearly numb from how hard they were pressed against his. They clashed and met over and over. Breathless, unstoppable, needful. Only desire filled the both of us. Need exchanged with need. Fire exchanged with fire. I couldn't think beyond him. I didn't want to think beyond him. Kieran. I wanted him. I needed him.

The hand on my lower back moved around, the motion raised my shirt at the front. I could feel the rough cloth of his shirt on my belly, and then warmth and pressure of his hand. Callused hands rasped against the skin of my waist. They rose by my side, nearly to my—

I flinched away from his touch as they brushed against my ribs. Our lips parted for a moment. Breathless, heated.

Kieran frowned and looked down. "Are you... hurt?" He whispered, his hand hovered above my ribs.

"No." I replied and shifted forward. He swayed with me as our lips brushed. My hand moved to his, and I pushed it down against my skin. I liked it there. Warm, hot even with how cold the wind that blew was. "It's just habit from when I broke a rib." I leaned in, my lips brushed aga—

He stopped breathing. His head shot up to meet my eyes. "YOU BROKE A RIB?!"

The near-yell of surprise shocked me. The sound echoed through the trees as I stared at him blankly. "Y... Yes. A while back. It's he—"

"A RIB, EMERYS?!"

I cocked my head to the side as the sound grated on my eardrums. The hand on his pulled it away from my skin. I shoved it against his chest as I turned away from him. "Yes." The mood was destroyed.

I reached up to check my hair. It was messy at the back where his hand had been. I sighed and started to unbraid it.

Kieran kept up with me as I walked back to the camp. "A rib? Your rib? How?!"

I threw him a tired look. I should have just slept. "When the dungeon was closing, I nearly got caught in it. Came out with only a broken rib, luckily."

"LUCKILY?!"

"Will you please stop yelling?" I replied exasperated. My hand swiped across my lips and I fixed my shirt as we started to see the light from the fire again. "It's not a big deal."

He stopped in his path, ahead of me with his eyes wide open as I said that. I walked right past him. Metres away from the clearing, he caught up to me. "What do you mean it's not a big deal?!"

I rubbed my forehead as my other hand ran through my hair to open it up. There was no reply from me as I walked back in to a clearing filled with stunned silence. Hanna had her eyebrows raised as I sat down beside her. "I didn't really think you two would actually talk."

"She broke a rib?" Kieran asked Hanna instead.

"I already said yes." I replied. "It was a few months ago. I'm fine now."

Pippa nodded. "It's fully healed. I checked."

"I-I—" he threw his hands out, "—why didn't you say so?"

"I literally just..." I trailed off as I realised this was futile. "Whatever."

"Well..." Articia spoke up dryly, amused. "If you'd stopped yelling for a second to listen to her..." She spoke for me anyway. I threw her a grateful look.