Nagisa took a long breath, happy not to smell rot anymore or hear the snorts of the creature. After securing the door, Seiho walked to Nagisa, bringing his palms on the nape of Nagisa’s neck, rubbing his thumbs and sending a warm thrill down Nagisa’s spine.
Their gazes locked and Seiho’s lips pressed in a thin line. “You should’ve gone back home…”
“I couldn’t leave you here. I meant it when I said I want to help you. There has to be a way to get you out. We’ll find it together.”
Seiho’s hands fell onto Nagisa’s shoulders, fingers tugging at his jacket. He seemed somewhat frustrated.
“I’m sorry.” Nagisa sighed.
“No, don’t apologize. I’m…” Seiho pulled him into a hug. “Thank you.”
Nagisa held onto him tight, resting his chin on Seiho’s shoulder, his hands skimming over Seiho’s back. Tilting his head, Nagisa pressed his lips over the pulse underneath Seiho’s ear, and felt him tense in his arms.
“You kissed me,” Nagisa said, pulling away enough to see him, but not letting go.
Seiho smiled. “I did. You were staring at me and breathing too fast. I didn’t want the lord to hear you, so…”
“That the only reason?”
His smile grew wider. “No.”
Nagisa nodded. “Good.” Tension rose in his gut and Nagisa gazed at Seiho for a second longer, taking in his dark eyes, the smooth skin with two little scratches near his temple, and his lush lips, slightly parted.
Closing his arms further around Seiho, Nagisa brought him into a deep kiss. Desire blasted through him when Seiho moaned and slid his tongue into Nagisa’s mouth, and grabbed a handful of Nagisa’s short hair. Their bodies rubbed against each other from chest to knees, and the thin material of the pants did nothing to hide how much Seiho liked it.
This went beyond crazy. Beyond any wild fantasy or weird dream. He stood in a haunted, disappearing castle, lips glued to a man whose eyes sometimes glowed purple, while a monster walked the yard outside, looking for its next victim. If not for the aching erection pushing at his zipper and the solid feeling of Seiho in his arms, he’d have agreed with Eikichi’s assessment that he was asleep on the forest’s ground.
They both pulled away drawing harsh breaths, their cheeks flushed. Seiho cleared his throat. “Since you’re here and it’s not safe to leave during the night, you… uh… might as well make yourself as home.”
He held Nagisa’s hand, guiding him to the sunken square hearth in the middle of the room, and they sat on the cushions. Seiho filled the ceramic kettle with water from a bucket, then hung it above the fire.
“I’m sorry I don’t have anything else besides tea.”
“It’s okay. I can go to the shop in the morning and return with food. What do you usually eat?”
Seiho shrugged. “Wild fruit. I rarely eat.” He looked up toward the ceiling. “I don’t always need sustenance.”
That didn’t sit quite well with Nagisa. He thought that rather than dancing around the issue, it was best to ask directly. “Are you like the jikininki?” He paused. “A ghost?”
“No.” His eyes were still trained on the ceiling. “I’m not sure.”
Nagisa frowned. “Not sure?”
“I…” Seiho turned to him then, a pained look on his face. “It’s complicated.”
For a brief moment, Nagisa hesitated before placing his palm on top of Seiho’s hand. “Take your time. I’m not in a hurry. But—” He stopped, glancing at the door, then back at Seiho. “Will the castle disappear with me in it? Because it disappeared today and then reappeared.”
“It won’t happen. You’re safe.”
“You sound certain.”
“Yes. It’s because I’m the one who controls the Castle of Bones.”
CHAPTER 5
Doubt crawled its way back into Nagisa’s mind. Had it been a mistake to come back here for Seiho? Perhaps Asako and even Eikichi had been right all along and he was chasing ghosts—literally. Not just any ghosts. One was an actual monster like those he’d heard of only in folktales. It ate humans. And right now, it was crawling outside, looking for its next prey.
The other one was… what was Seiho? Not a human since he could control an entire building and make it disappear at his whim, was he? Nagisa bit the inside of his lip, frustrated. He’d been foolish to come here on his own, without a good plan in mind, but he wasn’t about to back down now. At least not until he gained more information about Seiho and how he got into this mess.