Accomplice to the Villain (Assistant and the Villain Book 3)

The Villain

Trystan could’ve had the most perfect self-control, but after two weeks keeping away from her, after stolen moments peeking around corners and pressing his ears to doors, walls, and at times windows to hear her voice, there was only one possible response to the gentle press of her lips against his.

And it was, naturally, to lose his ever-loving mind.

Without hesitation, he bent to lift her legs, bringing her as close to him as possible, pressing her against the pillar he’d just been banging his head against while praying to the gods for a piece of sky to fall and clobber him to death. A light press of Sage’s tongue brushed against his lips.

Close enough.

He answered the gesture by slowly seducing her mouth open, gripping the back of her head and losing himself in her the way he’d wanted to from the start. From the moment destiny had pushed them together. For better or worse.

The destiny monster’s words echoed in his head as Sage’s hands held his face tenderly, as she moaned softly into his mouth.

Evie Sage is meant to be your downfall, and you her undoing.

His answer to that reminder should’ve been to pull away. To set her down and offer his regrets, as he had every time their lips had touched before that moment.

But then, in a shy whisper, her light eyes glimmering with unshed tears, she said words he thought he’d never hear from anyone ever again: “I love you.”

He pulled back farther so he could see her remarkable eyes, always brimming with her every emotion, like a message only he could read. “You— I—”

Her fingers fell over his lips. “You don’t need to say anything back. I’m not telling you so I can receive platitudes,” she said fiercely. “I’m telling you because you deserve to hear it. I’m telling you because you deserve to know that someone does, very much, love you.”

Whatever pieces of him that declaration left behind were hers to keep.

The destiny monster’s words echoed in his mind again.

And you her undoing.

And Trystan responded to the monster with two.

Fuck. You.

Staring into her eyes, searching for it, trying to find the lie, desperately. But there was no lie—only the bare, honest truth of her words, her feelings. And then she said it again. “I love you, Trystan, and there is nothing you can do to stop me.”

He grabbed both her cheeks in his hands and crushed his lips back to hers. He shut his eyes tight, the way he did when he was in pain. Trying to show her with everything he had that he loved her, too. The destiny monster may have decided their fate, but it couldn’t have his mind, his thoughts, his kiss. And Trystan used all of them in that moment to show Evie he loved her more than life, more than breath…more than death. Kissing her more deeply, like he was defying the gods, defying destiny, defying everything that had ever told him he didn’t deserve the precious thing he held in his hands.

He didn’t need to deserve her. He was The Villain. He could take her, and she could take him—

A loud animal screech wrenched them apart, both breathless as the archway above—the very same one that had been rebuilt perhaps a dozen times since Trystan had taken over the manor—collapsed in a swarm of dark-gray mist.

They separated as quickly as they had come together, every part of his body screaming to rejoin hers, but that wasn’t possible.

Because in the short moments they had been lost in each other…the entire courtyard had been overrun. By Trystan’s magic.

“What did you do?” Sage asked, her lush mouth swollen from his kiss, lips forming a little O.

He sputtered, looking at her, trying fruitlessly to call his magic back. “I didn’t do anything, you menace! You kissed me first!”

She shoved his shoulder, and her touch burned. “You didn’t have to kiss me back!”

“Yes! I did!” he yelled, and that—miraculously—knocked her silent.

His magic retreated, and Fluffy, who’d been sleeping peacefully under one of the awnings, whined. The grate covering the male guvre’s enclosure shook and rattled with a loud groan.

Blade bolted out the back doors, a half-eaten sandwich in one hand and a butcher knife in the other. “What happened?”

The mist of Trystan’s magic began to dissipate slowly, coming back to him in waves. And he could tell that Blade saw his magic in all its glory. Along with Sage and Trystan looking red-faced, guilty, and…unkempt.

Standing next to two violently unsettled animals.

Gushiken squinted, tossing the rest of the sandwich in Fluffy’s direction and brushing his hand against his red-and-violet sleep shirt. “I’m not sure I’m supposed to ask?”

“If you do, I will ram that sandwich down your throat,” Trystan growled.

Blade opened his mouth with a suggestive grin that made Trystan’s blood boil. “Funny. Was your tongue just down Evie’s—”noveldrama

But he didn’t finish, because Sage dove around Trystan to close her hand over the dragon trainer’s lips. Hands that had been around Trystan’s neck moments prior. Until his magic and reality interceded and ruined everything.

It’s not the magic, his conscience argued. It’s you.

His mother’s ugly words the day he left with Alexander’s cursed frog body in tow reared their head for the first time in years.

You’ve always had the habit of ruining everything and everyone, haven’t you?

“Settle Fluffy, Gushiken. I’ll see to the guvre,” Trystan said gruffly, striding toward the guvre’s grate, a sting burning behind his eyes that made him feel weak and foolish.

“Trystan,” Sage called after him.

“Not now, Sage,” he said, emotionless, not looking back.

Not ever again.