Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2)(59)

"Why do you think that?" Her tone was carefully neutral.

"I've been watching you," he said. "All of you."

"I know." She looked up at him with her bright eyes, half-amused. "It's like you've been taking mental notes."

"Habit. My dad taught me everyone in the world was divided into two categories. Those you could trick and cheat and the ones you couldn't. So you observe people. Try to figure out what they're about. How they tick."

"How do we tick?"

"Like a very complicated machine," said Kit. "You're all intertwined-one of you moves a little and that drives the others. And if you move the other way, that directs what they do too. You're more connected than any family I've seen. And you can't tell me you're not worried about Julian and the others-I know you are. I know what you people think about the Fair Folk."

"That they're evil? It's a lot more complicated than that, believe me."

Livvy's blue gaze darted away, toward her brother. Ty was lying down on his back on the rock now, barely visible. "So why would I lie to Diana?"

"Julian lies to protect all of you," said Kit. "If he's not around, then you'll lie to protect the younger ones. Nothing to worry about, Julian and Mark are off to the Unseelie Court, hope they send a postcard, wish we were there."

Livvy seemed poised between irritation and relief-angry that Kit had guessed the truth, relieved there was someone with whom she didn't have to pretend. "Do you think I convinced Diana?" she said finally. 

"I think you convinced her you weren't worried," said Kit. "She's still worried. She's probably pulling whatever strings she's got to pull to figure out how to find them."

"We're pretty low on strings here, you might have noticed," Livvy said. "As Institutes go, we're a weird one."

"I don't really have a lot of points of reference. But I believe you."

"So you didn't actually tell me." Livvy tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Are we the kind of people you can trick and cheat, or not?"

"Not," said Kit. "But not because you're Shadowhunters. Because you genuinely seem to care about each other more than you care about yourselves. Which makes it hard to convince you to be selfish."

She took a few steps away, reaching out to touch a small red flower blooming on a silvery-green hedge. When she turned back to Kit, her hair was blowing around her face, and her eyes were unnaturally bright. For a moment, he worried she might be about to cry, or yell at him.

"Kiss me," she said.

Kit didn't know where he'd thought the conversation was going, but definitely not there. He just managed not to start coughing. "What?"

"You heard me." She moved back toward him, pacing slowly and deliberately. He tried not to stare at her legs again. "I asked you to kiss me."

"Why?"

She was starting to smile. Behind her, Ty was still balanced on his rock, gazing out to sea. "Haven't you ever kissed anyone before?" she inquired.

"Yes. I'm not sure how that's relevant, though, to you wanting me to kiss you right now, right here."

"Are you sure you're a Herondale? I'm pretty sure a Herondale would lunge at this kind of opportunity." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Is there some reason you don't want to kiss me?"

"For one, you have a terrifying older brother," said Kit.

"I do not have a terrifying older brother."

"That's true," Kit said. "You have two."

"Fine," Livvy said, dropping her arms and turning away. "Fine, if you don't want to-"

Kit caught her shoulder. It was warm under his grasp, the heat of her skin tactile through the thin material of her T-shirt. "I do, though."

To his surprise, he meant it. His world was sliding away from him; he felt as if he were falling toward something, a dark unknown, the ragged edge of unwanted choices. And here was a pretty girl offering him something to cling to, a way to forget, something to catch and hold, even if only for a moment.

The pulse fluttered lightly in her neck as she half-turned her head, her hair brushing his hand. "All right," she said.

"But tell me one thing. Why me? Why do you want to kiss me?"

"I've never kissed anyone," she said in a low voice. "In my whole life. I hardly ever meet anyone. It's us alone, against the whole world, and I don't mind that, I'd do anything for my family, but I feel like I'm missing all the chances I should have. You're my age, and you're a Shadowhunter, and you don't get on my nerves. I don't have that many options."

"You could kiss a Centurion," Kit suggested.

She turned around completely at that, his hand still on her shoulder, her expression indignant.