010 | Library books and longing looks

Stephen’s POV

I still wasn’t sure why I’d gone to Hyacinth’s bedroom. Something had called me in there, some urge knotting my heart and tugging me towards her. I’d written it off as loneliness, a need to discuss our shared pain, but there was a lurking feeling in the back of my head that told me otherwise.

Guilt gnawed away at me for the way I’d reacted when I’d first seen her, wearing those tiny pyjamas and that see-through robe over them. My throat had bobbed, and a hundred indecent thoughts had burned through my brain as I’d gaped at her.

I’d never looked at Cin like that before. She was Rhi’s sister, which meant she was like a sister to me, too. But tonight… holy moly guacamole, she looked beautiful. Even the way her hair had brushed the tips of her shoulders had me in a chokehold. She smelled of strawberries and vanilla ice cream and she looked even sweeter. Her blonde eyebrows arched over wide, pale blue eyes, which had held my gaze with an intensity I rarely saw in her. With h