“You are impossible to resist, Yalina.” The way he says my name is soft, as if saying it is a prize he treasures. It sends a shiver through me. Suddenly all the heat of my anger softens into something smooth and warm in my belly.
“Ask me before you touch or kiss me.”
Something flashes in his amber eyes. “Very well. We shall call this lesson one. May I kiss you?”
I consider. I don’t know how far to push this new understanding. But if I give in now, will he take that as permission to keep pushing me? Lifting my chin, I meet his gaze. “No.”
His mouth drops open, but he does not take the kiss.
I smile. “Ask me again tomorrow.”
His look of astonishment turns to amusement and a sharp-toothed grin. “Very well. I will. Say yes tomorrow.”
“We will see. Now return me to the courtyard.”
He dips his head. “As you command.”
Yalina
As soon as I enter my rooms, I look around, hopeful my visitor from earlier has returned. But if he is here, he is hiding from sight.
I do not know how to feel about my interaction with Aurelion. Have I given him too much encouragement? Or not enough? Perhaps I should have let him kiss me. Is it bad that I am curious about how it would feel to kiss another man?
A gentle play of air around my ankles alerts me to his presence before he speaks. I spin, and the tall, handsome creature is once again standing in my rooms, dressed only in tight leather trousers. His skin is an unearthly pale blue, his features chiseled as if carved from stone. But there’s a lively, winsome quality to his movements that makes him seem unpredictable.
“You came.”
“I said that I would.” He says this as if that makes it so. Perhaps it does. The thought of a male who keeps strictly to his word has appeal.
I smile. “Thank you. What shall I call you?”
Something passes across his serious expression—surprise? Unease? It is gone in a moment. “You may call me Jah’ruud, Light of the Sun. That is how you are addressed, is it not?”
“It is.” I am a little disappointed he will not use my real name. But it is for the best. Perhaps I should be wary of him until I understand his motives a little better. “Can we talk?”
He inclines his head. “I may be limited in what I can say.”
“Because you serve Noreth?”
“Yes.” His tone is cold. I wonder if he has much love for the prince he serves.
“I understand. Your loyalty is to be commended. Would you sit with me a little while, though?”
He glances at the twin seats arranged by the window where I sometimes take tea. I’ve never had a visitor to share my tea with,but the flask is in the usual place, resting in a bowl of cool water. I pour a cup and offer it to Jah’ruud, who declines. He sits, though awkwardly, as if he was not expecting to be asked. “What would you have me tell you?”
“What kind of creature are you? How can you turn yourself into the very air?”
“I am a wind spirit.”
“How did you come to serve Prince Noreth?”
His expression darkens. “He is not the first I’ve served. I was bound many rotations ago and forced to serve.”
I gasp. “Then you are his slave?”
“I am.”
“But you were not always a slave.”
