She growls and spits in my face. I laugh.
“Never mind, poppy girl. You’ll tell me later. I’ll fuck you now, because that was the most arousing thing I’ve seen in my life. You’re a force.Sopowerful.”
She stares at me, her eyes wide open, bottomless with fear, anger, and something else, something empty and dark. I falter, my resolve unsteady. Her eyes fall closed, her face straining witheffort, and suddenly, my cocoon of shadows falls apart, torn into pieces that float to the ground like shreds of fabric. They melt away one by one, and Jaga launches into a run, halting, uneven steps taking her away from me as she sobs, or maybe laughs.
But she’s exhausted, probably on the verge of passing out. She won’t get far.
“You don’t get to do that,” I grit out, taking slow, measured steps as my tail swings with anticipation. “Stop running from me.”
There is an urgency boiling in my blood, a craving so deep, it claws at my insides like a monster. Everything else falls away. So what if she can break up my shadows? No one could do that before, but sheisexceptional, and I’ll learn how she did that in good time.
Now… I must have her.
Jaga looks over her shoulder, panting. The action makes her lose her balance, and she falls with a gasp, crawling away from me on her hands and knees.
The future stretches ahead, perfectly clear. I see myself walking over to her struggling form. Kneeling behind her as I shape the ground to raise her up higher, until her hips are level with mine. I imagine how it will feel to sink inside, where she’s still warm and wet from when she drank my blood.
She’d hate me. Irredeemable. No return.
I stop and watch her, lust blazing down forceful, glittering pathways through my bloodstream. I could make her forget properly, now that I know she can resist it. It would be all right. Just once.
“No,” Jaga breathes, as if hearing my thoughts vibrating in the air between us.
I could… I could.
But I won’t.
“See?” I ask, quiet, defeated, a monster. “This is why I didn’t change before. I can’t be trusted. Talk to me when I’m Weles. That's all I ask for.”
She stops, her frail back arching as she takes deep, wheezing breaths. I gather my magic around me, crackling and volatile, and let it shift my body and settle deep into my mind, reshaping thoughts and habits, breaking apart the pockets of fury and lust that make me unhinged.
Jaga gives up completely and just lies on the floor, her cheek pressed to the cool surface. Her eyes are dry but open, and she watches me in her periphery as I wrap my robe around me, no longer naked, no longer a beast.
“You have to eat,” I admonish her, crouching by her side, but not too close. “You’re weak. Yes, you learned new tricks, but that’s not enough. You have to get stronger to fight me.”
“Fine.”
Her voice is a quiet whisper. I close my eyes, wrestling away the mixture of defeat, self-disgust, and satisfaction. She’s speaking to me, after all. At least something good came out of it.
“I’ll carry you to bed,” I say but stay where I am, giving her time to protest.
When she doesn’t, I pick her up and walk through the Hall of Fires she never praised. When she dozes off, exhausted, I nuzzle my cheek against her hair.
“Sleep, beloved,” I whisper, my heart full of guilt, sorrow, and hopeless longing. “Sleep well and don’t dream of me. I’ll only mar your dreams.”
Chapter four
Hooves
I sit opposite Jaga at the table and watch her eat. We’re in my throne room, which I believe she finds the most comfortable. I have a set of private rooms on this level of Nawie, but when I tried to bundle her into my bed before, she bolted and went to sleep, half-sitting, half-curled, on my throne.
She sits on it when awake, too, for hours on end.
So I moved things here. There’s a long table with chairs, a cluster of daybeds, her wardrobe filled with beautiful gowns she hasn’t even looked at.
But she’s eating with appetite. That’s a welcome development after our fight yesterday.
“Wiosna cooked it,” I say, watching her reaction closely as she cuts up a turnip dripping with golden butter.
