Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
" What must it be like,
To grow up that beautiful?
With your hair falling into place like dominoes "
―IT SHOULDN'T BE humanely possible for someone to be as saintsforsaken beautiful as Yizhi Kir-Taban is. Not in the way she smiles and her cheeks dimple or the way her hair is always a calculated mess, not even the way her eyes light up when she talks. She's like an angel sent from another world and as a liar, bastardized son, and everything more, I've somehow managed to end up with her in my arms again.
I cast her a glance and study her face for a moment, wondering if I've gone senile and I'm imagining that she's alive, I'm alive.
She moves closer quirks her head to one side like a curious bird. "Nikolai?"
I blink, slightly dumbfounded at her proximity. "Yes?"
Yi tilts her lips upwards and my breath catches. "You're staring," she whispers quietly.
"Oh."
" 'Oh' indeed. I can't tell if you want to murder me or kiss me right now."
"The second one," I breathe quietly. "Definitely the second one."
"You already kissed me," she reminds me, her tone teasing.
"They say third time's a charm, so I suppose you owe me two more," I say, flashing her a grin.
She lets out a gentle laugh, tilting her head back slightly. "Saints, I've missed you. A lot."
I take her waist and reel her in, forgetting where we are for the second time today as our lips meet. "The feeling is mutual," I murmur against her mouth, using one hand to cup the nape of her neck.
And Saints know it's everything, the way she melts into my touch perfectly, her hands playing with my hair almost shyly in a way that drives me half insane. Her skin is warm and soft, the scent of her muddling my mind.
"You can't be serious," someone grumbles.
Another damned interruption.
I pull away, annoyance spiking at my chest as I turn to see who it is. I raise my eyebrows as my eyes land on Zoya, her arms folded, her icy eyes narrowed to slits.
"Wonderful. Now that you two aren't snogging over each other like two puppies, you," she gives me a pointed, cold look, "can tell us where you're taking us."
I glance towards Yi. She gives me a small shrug.
With both extricate ourselves from each other's arms and I turn to face the rest of the Grisha who have been standing in waiting, awkwardly averting their eyes and staying in their respective spaces.
