" I’ll tell you what I wished for if you give me a kiss.”
I turned to face him. “Even if I did, you might lie. There’s no way to prove that you wished for what you said you did.”
He smiled. “Clever as ever.”
“Or unwilling to kiss you.”
“Another lie,” he said, grinning.
Amar reached into the air and a handful of lights danced on his palms. “Kiss me and you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”
He leaned forward, the small lights illuminating his face. In the light, he looked honey drenched. But I wasn’t going to give him a victory so easily. I quickly pecked his cheek and stepped back. Amar was still tipped toward me, his eyes a little wide before he started laughing.
“Foolish optimism.”
I ignored him. “And those wishes?”
“See for yourself,” he said, opening his palm.
There was nothing in his hands. Around us, a third of the lights had disappeared. I stared into the dark, waiting for them to flare into being. But they were gone.
“Once a wish comes true, it disappears for good.”
“That’s what you wished for?” I asked, incredulous. “A peck on the cheek?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“This,” said Amar, gesturing to the space between us, “the chance to be this close to you.”
We looked at one another in silence. There was something new between us. Fragile and thrumming. I didn’t know what to do. Nothing I had learned in Bharata’s sanctum had taught me this. Nothing I had seen in the harem came close to what I felt. There was an undercurrent of depth, of something hard-won and dangerous. I couldn’t treat it with lightness…and I didn’t want to. "

― Roshani Chokshi , The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)