「 so where were we? 」
Damage Control
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Land and Ubel ducked into a quiet alleyway near the marketplace below the tower. Little did the townsfolk know, the whole plaza had just been held hostage—mere moments away from being reduced to rubble.
“Ubel. Are you able to see yet?”
Ubel tilted her head in the direction of Land’s voice. It cut through the haze still clouding her vision. They were far enough from the falling tower (and consequently the caster), so the spell shrouding Ubel’s sight had weakened. Just not enough for her liking. Blurred shapes still swam and mingled in front of her.
“Let me check.” Land sounded stern, but the touch Ubel felt on her face was careful. He had grabbed her shoulder the same way in the storeroom before. “The spell doesn’t seem particularly complicated. Your sight should be back any moment now.”
“Thank you, Doctor Four-eyes,” Ubel muttered dryly, “You may back off, now—unless you’ve decided to make grabbing me your new habit.”
Earlier, Land claimed to have simply been ‘acting appropriate.’ To buy them enough time to escape from the Magic Task Force together. Somehow, Ubel had been prepared for Land to take advantage of their situation. Men could be like that. And ever in the pursuit of getting to know Land intimately, she might have wondered where something like that could have gone. If she might have even liked it.
But Land had immediately stepped away, not even the tiniest bit flustered. He had remained on-task.
However, now that there was no threat, no rush, Ubel was surprised.
The silhouette in front of her did not budge.
She only heard his slow, uneven exhale. Then his head dipped into her shoulder. Not completely—close enough for her to feel his breath through the lace of her gown. For a moment, Ubel stood there, thrown by the unfamiliar weight of him. The faint scent of smoke and dust clung to his clothes, mixing with something sharper, something his.
“Four-eyes?”
“I’m fine.”
The response Land gave her left Ubel with some workable inferences. He wasn’t frigid because someone had happened upon them again. So that meant they were still alone in the alley. Safe. He directly acknowledged as much, but not that he was unaffected. Whatever was weighing on him, Land wasn’t letting it show beyond the way he steadied his breath into something he could measure, could control. She could practically hear him forcing himself to move past it. To act normal.
Well, normally, Ubel thought, Land had a clone. A spare waiting in the wings, an extra piece to manipulate the playing field. An insurance policy. But this time—he hadn’t.
Perhaps Land had felt cornered.
And despite that, he had chosen once more not to abandon her to chance.
Her fingers twitched at her sides. Not out of sympathy for him—Ubel wasn’t sure she was capable of that just yet—out of the sheer newness of him like this. Before Ubel could tilt her head to nuzzle against his, or even lift a hand to meet the one holding her face—he retreated. His warmth vanished from her skin.
“We should deliver the documents,” Land said.
Temptation came swiftly, and stronger than Ubel expected on her part. A better person would have let it go. Let him put as much distance as he could between himself and the clear crime he had just made against his typical behavior. But he—always so steady, so unshakable—had allowed himself to rest against her.
Ubel let her arms drift forward, searching until she finally felt the crisp fabric of his lapels under her palms.
“Are you blushing, Four-eyes?”
A pause. Then, flatly: “No.”
Ubel knew Land would never admit it. Not to her, not to anyone.
Laughter slipped from her lips. “You sure about that?”
Ubel curled her fingers into the front of his vest, pressing closer—if only intending to dance at the edge of his patience as she always had. But Land moved too. His hands shot out, her gown bunching in his fists as he yanked her towards him.
Her back slammed into the wall. And before she could breathe, his mouth was on hers.
But even if his kiss was insistent, as if taking the lead meant Land had won anything here, Ubel could still feel it. Beneath the pressure of his lips and the bite of his grip on her hips. Restraint. Even now, he was holding back.
That wouldn’t do.
So she bit him.
Land gritted his teeth, hissing before crushing himself against her, harder. Like he needed it. Like he was half-starved for it. Heat flared, sharp and dizzying, from where his thigh wedged hers apart. Ubel found herself tilting into the friction, matching his urgency, chasing it. Without thinking, her own hands slipped under his jacket. She untucked his dress shirt, dragging her nails down his back. He shuddered, groaning against her lips before he wrenched himself away from her.
“Ubel—“
—should have known Land would stop it there.
Cold night air replaced the pressure between her thighs, where his knee had been, leaving Ubel with a hollow ache. As the chill crept back over her skin, Ubel could still feel her lungs burning through her frenzied senses. Her sight had sharpened enough to see that Land was still staring down at her. Gaze dark. Wanting.
This could not be over. Not even close.
“We still need to deliver the documents,” Land repeated.
Ubel noted a lack of an edge in how he spoke, how gently he let up on her. Land adjusted his glasses, straightening out his tuxedo again before he turned down the street.
She followed, her heels clicking softly against the cobblestones as they slipped back into the thin, flickering light of the marketplace. For the first time, she got a glimpse of the town wrapped around them—hawkers calling out prices, chattering merchants, the color of the night—but it all still felt muted.
Her gaze drifted to Land’s back ahead of her: his steady gait, determined to act like nothing happened. She touched her fingers to her lips. The lingering warmth was her only proof that something had.
And that he cared about her. Just not enough for either of them to understand why he had let her into his bubble at all.
Ubel smiled, but it did not reach her eyes.
