Chapter 176
Cassian
I had never smelled something so good in my life.
Not during the festival of roses when the gardens bloomed across the southern hills. Not during harvest feasts when the air was thick with spices and roasted game. Not even during the sacred rites of heat season, when desire swirled through the very bones of the kingdom.
This was different.
It was intoxicating—richer than honey, warmer than sunlit pine, spiced like cinnamon and sweet like crushed berries in spring. It filled my lungs, wrapped around my senses, sank into my skin like smoke I’d never escape from.
I wanted to get closer.
To see her face.
To pull her into my arms and bury my nose in her neck.
I wanted things—dark, aching things.
Thoughts that had no place in the open air.
My breath came fast. My f
