“Seth! I swear I will—”

Using the air element, he launched me out of the water, cutting off my words. I went up… and up another couple of feet, and back down in a mess of arms and red silk several feet away. Water went up my nose as I sank to the bottom of the pool.

Breaking the surface, I immediately started yelling things only Seth could truly appreciate. A lot of four letter words that rhymed with other four letter words. This resulted in me flying back through the air again and again.

“Okay. Okay,” I gasped, hanging above him. “You’re awesome.”

“And?”

“And… you’re not a douche… all the time—Wait!” I stalled as my knees came out of the water. “You’re just a greatperson.”

Seth frowned. “That doesn’t sound very sincere.”

My hands slipped off his. “Okay. You’re the best Apollyon there is.”

He tipped his head to the side and arched a brow. “I’m the only Apollyon there is right now.”

I grinned. “You’re still the best.”

He sighed, but he lowered me back down. “Now you really do look like a drowned monkey.”

“Thanks.” I started for the shallow end of the pool, but Seth pushed through the water like a damn fish. He circled one arm around my waist and flipped me back around.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I went to push against his chest, but remembered there was literally nothing between my hands and his skin. I opted for his shoulders, which turned out to be rather pointless. “Don’t throw me again.”

“I’m not going to throw you.”

I considered that for a moment. “Then I win the water war?”

“No.”

“Damn. Well, I guess you have to be better than me at something. Congratulations.”

“I’m always better than you. I’m—”

“Egotistical?” I supplied helpfully. “Narcissistic?”

He pressed forward, and I backed up, trying to keep as much space between us as possible. Not that it did any good in water. My legs floated everywhere I didn’t want them to—like closer to him. “I have some words for you, too. How about stubborn? Impudent?” he countered, slowly pushing on until my back hit the rough edge of the pool.

“Was ‘impudent’ your word choice of the day?”

He put his finger on my lips. “Well, yes it is. I could even use it in a sentence if you like.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

He removed his finger and planted his hands on either side of me, effectively caging me in. I looked up and our eyes locked. An immediate level of awareness passed between us. It was powerful, almost like the charge that’d shot through us when I’d touched his rune.

Something I never planned on doing again.

The atmosphere was no longer playful or light, and as the silence grew, so did the nervousness in the pit of my stomach. Seth had thatlook on his face—all intent and purpose-driven, and it was directed at me. He liked to flirt, liked to the push the line between us, but this—this was different. I felt itinside me, waking up and stirring.

Suddenly I thought of the heaviness I’d felt leaving the ball. “I think… we should head back now. I’m cold and it’s getting late.”

Seth smiled. “No.”

“No?”

“I’m not done being stupid yet.” He leaned in. Strands of his wet hair brushed my forehead. “Actually, there’s a lot of stupid left in me.”

At once, I placed my hands against his chest to stop him. His skin felt incredibly warm for being above the water. I opened my mouth to respond, but found myself at a loss. A strange edginess swamped me. Somehow, he managed to get closer and I… I didn’t push him away or move my hands. Seth seemed to read something in that, because his hands slipped away from the edge and fell to my waist.

“You know what?” His breath was warm against my cheek. “There are a lot of stupid things to do, but I really want to do the stupidest thing possible.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to kiss you.”

My stomach hollowed. “That is crazy. I’m not Elena… or any other number of girls.”

“I know. Maybe that’s why I want to.”

I turned my head in the other direction. Or at least I thought I did. That was what I planned, but for some reason my head went the direction I didn’t want it to—toward him and his warm breath. “You don’t want to kiss me.”

“But I do.” His lips brushed against my cheek, sending shivers that had nothing to do with the cold air over me.

My hands slipped from his chest and I gripped the edge of the pool. “No, you don’t.”

Seth chuckled against my cheek. He slipped his fingers up my spine, curving his hand around the nape of my neck. “Are you arguing with me over what I want?”

“You’re arguing with me.”

“You’re ridiculous.” I felt him smile as his lips brushed over the line of my jaw, over the bruise. “It’s such an annoying quality, yet strangely endearing.”

My heart was beating way too fast. “Well… you’re annoying, too.”

He laughed again and pulled me against his chest. My fingers lost their tenuous grip on reality, falling into the water. “Why are we still talking?”

I rested my cheek against his shoulder and closed my eyes. “This is your one chance to talk without me telling you to shut up, because we aren’t doing... anything else.”

“Do you know how amusing I find you?” He shifted, pressing my back into the pool edge. His hand left my waist, smoothed down over my hip and thigh. Jerking back, I grabbed for his hand. Too late, he hooked my leg around his.

“What are… you doing?” I hated how breathless my voice sounded, confused by the need burning through me.

“Do you know why I think you’re so amusing?” He slid the hand over my thigh.

“Why?”

“Because I know how badly you want me to kiss you.” Seth cupped my chin, tipping my head back with his other hand.

“That’s not true.”

“You lie. Why? I have no idea.” He pressed his lips against my cheek, then against my throat, my shoulder. The hand on my leg slipped between my thighs. My blood pounded, sending my heart into a frenzy. “I can feel what you’re feeling. And I know you want me to kiss you.”

I grasped his arms “It’s not…”

“Not what?” He lifted his head, brushing his nose against mine.

“I…”

“Just let me kiss you.”

Gods, I needed him to kiss me. I needed him to keep doing what he was doing with his hands. But was any of this was about the heart… or even the body? Or was it just what existed in both of us? The connection, the bond—whatever it was—controlling what we wanted. It sang between us, tightening until it was all that existed. But what I felt with Aiden wasn’t a product of a connection, and it didn’t fade away because he didn’t return my feelings. I didn’t even question what it was, but this? I had to question everything.

I opened my eyes. “Is this real?”

“Very real.” He leaned back and brushed strands of wet hair off my face.

I did want to kiss him and I also wanted to wrap myself around him. The ache his hands created was almost too hard to deny, but as I stared at him and saw the runes slipping down his neck, slowly reaching toward where my hands rested against his skin, I had no idea if I could trust what I wanted. There was something between us that neither of us fully understood. We didn’t know what the connection actually controlled, what it could make us want.

His breath danced over my cheek, then my lips. “Angel, just let me kiss you.”

With Aiden, with what I felt for him, there was nothing external—or internal—pulling me toward him except what I feltfor him. It didn’t matter that it was forbidden or that he didn’t want me.

Seth dropped his hands suddenly. I hit the edge, wincing as the cement scraped my skin. The mark of the Apollyon shifted over his chest, swirling and moving. “You’re thinking about Aiden.”

I bit my lip. “Not in the way you think I am.”

He ran both his hands over his head. Then he pushed forward, suddenly right in my face. “You know, I don’t know which is worse. That I was stupid enough to want to kiss you, or the fact that you’re still hung up on someone who doesn’t even want you.”