Her last kiss lingered on my lips, sweet and sharp, before she finally pulled back just enough to look at me. Her cheeks flushed, her hair a little out of place where my fingers had tangled it. For once, she didn't try to fix it.
I exhaled slowly, trying to steady myself. "You realize this was a mistake."
She tilted her head, blue eyes gleaming in the lantern light. "Then let's make another one."
My brow arched. "You don't exactly strike me as the type to collect mistakes."
Her lips curved. "Maybe not. But tonight I feel like being reckless." She hesitated, then asked, almost too casually, "Will you… take me out?"
I blinked. "Out?"
Her voice was softer now, careful. "A date."
The word hit me like a slap and a laugh at the same time. A date. As if I were some normal boy in a normal academy where the worst trouble I'd face was sneaking into the gardens after curfew. As if the Council didn't want me in chains. As if power and punishment weren't breathing down my neck.
