“So don’t go back.” He pleaded with his eyes. “I won’t force you. I’d be a hypocrite if I did.”
“I have to make sure Nova is okay.” And I knew if I let the noose close around my neck, I’d never escape. The heir didn’t sound like the kind of fae that let anything he wanted get away.
“I understand,” he spoke the words like they were a funeral. Had he been asking me to leave with him? I was about to ask when he changed the subject.
“So you can’t take anyone else with you when you—transport? What do you call it?” he asked like he knew.
“It’s portal magic. It’s old magic and forbidden.” I don’t know why I felt safe telling him.
“You can’t take anyone?”
“I can take Nova, but I’ve tried others, and it never works. I can’t pull them in with me.” Not many knew I could do it, but Father had made me try over and over, and so did some of the top magical advisers he’d brought in to teach us magic over the years.
“Now you need to learn to recharge. You were trained, it sounds like, but no one taught you how to draw magic from the ground?”
“No, never. My father probably forbade it in case it gave me a way to escape. He knew he had to have me trained so I could control it. It can be very dangerous if uncontrolled. It’s easy for a youngling to get lost in the space between worlds, but to give me more power would have been a mistake.”
“Let me show you.” He offered his hand, and my heart jumped to my throat.
THIRTY
FAOLAN
Connection radiated through the touch when she placed her hand in mine. I barely bit back a groan. Never had I wanted anyone as badly as I wanted her. The sensation suffocated and burned inside me with equal need. I barely held back, and my resolve dampened with each interaction.
I forced it out of my mind as she looked at me expectantly, exhaling the primal need to mark her as mine. “Open your mind to me. You were taught to shield well, but to show you, I’m going to need to be inside—” I cut myself off as soon as the words left my lips, but it was too late.
Her eyes went wide, and I kicked myself for scandalizing her when she said, “You want to be inside me?” Her lips twisted into a sly grin.
“You know that’s not what I meant!”
“It sounded pretty clear to me…”
I growled.
She put her soft fingers to my lips. “All you have to do is ask.”
My lips parted, and I fought the unspeakable need to take her fingers into my mouth. “Do you want to learn how to draw magic from the ley lines, or not?”
She stepped closer, not withdrawing her hand. “Show me.”
“Let me into your mind.” My voice came husky as I tried to maintain focus, like she wasn’t touching me.
She closed her eyes, and her delicate lashes lay against her cheek, drawing my attention to her soft freckles. “Do I let my shields down completely or…”
“No, not fully. That would be dangerous if anyone else were around.”
She slid her petal-soft touch over my lips, tracing them while her breath fanned over my chest. “Then how do I just let you inside me?” Her words were so pointed, and I fought a battle with myself.
“Find the cords between us and their connection.” I barely managed the words.
“Okay,” she said breathlessly.
“You found them?” I didn’t know when it happened, but she’d leaned forward and we were body to body, her breasts pressed against me, and half my focus dropped below my belt.
Fuck.
“Yes.”
