His fingers find my hips, and there’s no feeling I love more than having his hands on me.
“Tell me after.”
“Nova.” He groans, but his grip on me tightens, and I never want to live another day without hearing him make that sound.
I move in closer, just a fraction of a hair. I just…need to know…what he tastes—
The door flings open, and Jax and I pull apart just as palace guards flood the room, throwing a bleeding Ishla to the floor.
I burst into flames.
Chapter 26
Serafina
“I’m so sorry!” Ishla cries, her voice trembling. Blood drips from a deep gash on her forehead, pooling on the cobblestones beneath her and soaking the fabric of her clothes. Her shoulders shake as she struggles to lift herself, only to collapse again. “I tried to stop them!”
My flames surge around me, a searing heat licking the air as my fire takes on a life of its own. Anger courses through me, uncontainable, undeniable.
They hurt Ishla…because of me.
“You’re coming with us,” one of the guards, dressed in royal red barks, his hand firmly grippinghis iron sword.
Before I can react, Ryjax steps in front of me and shadows pour from his fingers like liquid smoke, dark tendrils snaking across the floor before wrapping around the ankles of each guard, holding them firmly in place.
Their eyes widen in terror, and I feel a jolt of something between awe and dread. There’s no mistaking what Ryjax is now, not anymore.
He just revealed himself to every guard in this room, all six of them. His true nature, the side he keeps hidden. He isn’t only a Luminarie…He’s acommander of darkness.
“Touch her,” Ryjax growls, his voice a deep, menacing rumble, “and it will be the last thing you ever do.”
“We have orders from the king.” One of the men grinds out, but I don’t miss the way his hands shake by his sides.
“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear,” Ryjax says, his tone razor sharp. He steps closer to them, his movements predatory, as the shadows lining the walls shimmer and twist. “If you so much as move in her direction, I will gladly stand aside and watch with a smile as she melts the flesh from your bones and turns the rest of you to ashes.”
His words slam into me like a physical blow, my breath hitching as my heart pounds so hard it feels like it might tear free from my chest.
He would stand aside.
He would letmebe their ruin.
But then I see Ishla again, crumpled and unmoving, her blood pooling faster than before. My flames begin to dwindle, the heat receding as panic takes its place.
“Jax,” I whisper, tugging at his sleeve. His fingers remain splayed, holding the guards still, but he tilts his head just enough to look at me.
His eyes nearly bulge out of his skull before he whips his head back around, his jaw clenching tight.
“Close your fucking eyes,” he demands, and every guard does exactly that.
What the…My hands find my chest then slide down to my waist.
Shit.
My clothes are gone, incinerated by the flames I conjured, but I shove the embarrassment aside.
Ishla needs help.
“You need to get her to a healer.”
