She whipped around, startled. After the way their last encounter ended, he expected her to raise the alarm with her guards again now.
But she didn’t call out for protection.
Her chin lifted and she regarded him with a cold, imperious look that might have frozen any other man or mere mortal. It only made Darion smile.
“I saw Jordana sailing away,” he said.
“What of it?” she asked tersely.
He took a step forward, just to the edge of the light. “I have to assume you freed her to prove a point, but was it to demonstrate you’re not evil, or that you aren’t lonely?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. And I have nothing to prove to anyone, least of all you.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t say it was me judging you. I suspect you’re harder on yourself than anyone else could be.”
“I released Jordana because it was the right thing to do--for her and for the realm. Thank you for informing me of your current upgrade in status, by the way. It’s good to know I have something of even greater value to your comrades now.” She gave him a self-satisfied smile. “If Jordana wasn’t worth surrendering their crystal, I expect you will be.”
Darion chuckled. “Think again. You and I had better get used to seeing a lot more of each other, because the Order isn’t going to take that deal. I won’t let them take it.”
She smiled at him in challenge. “You had better hope they will, if you ever want to feed again.”
Her threat had no teeth--unlike him. “You really want to put me to the test? There’s only one thing more dangerous than a pissed off Breed male, and that’s a starving one.”
He stared at her throat, which was highlighted by a ray of sunshine. The beam of light glittered almost like stardust, thin and sparkling, fragile somehow. Almost as if it were an unearthly, silvery illusion.
He thought back to the illumination around the door in the tower. How it had degraded over time, weakened. Until today, when he’d been able to break through it and escape the tower cell.
And there was the strange effect he noticed in the sky from time to time, when he could plainly see the moon and a night full of stars hanging just above the canopy of sunlight that had drenched every square foot of the Atlantean realm from the moment Selene had taken him prisoner.
“It’s you.” He’d had his suspicions before, but now there was no doubt. “You’re creating all of this light, aren’t you? Keeping night from falling so I can’t set foot outside the palace walls.”
“Stay where you are,” she commanded, a breathlessness in her voice. “I promise you, my light burns as hot as any sun’s.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve already tested it for myself. It must take some effort, even for you.” The weakened glow around his door was evidence of that. “How long do you expect you can hold it, Selene?”
“Longer than you can last without blood.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe you want me dead. You may wish you wanted that, but you don’t. That kiss the other night said a lot about what both of us want . . . and it doesn’t have anything to do with a fucking crystal.”
On a huff, she stalked forward, stopping just out of arm’s length. “I am the queen of this realm. How dare you imply--”
“I’m not implying it. I’m stating it plainly, Selene. You wanted me to kiss you. You want it now. I can hear how fast your heart is beating. I can scent how hot your skin is beneath all that silk and royal propriety. When you’re looking at me like that, it has nothing to do with that crown on your head or the realm you rule.”
“Shut up,” she murmured.
But he was only getting started. “I can see the flush in your cheeks, Selene. Every time you lick your lips--like you just did now--I’m not thinking about the Order or my duty to them. All I’m thinking about is how much I want to feel my mouth on yours again. I know you’re thinking about it too.”
She drew in a shallow breath, shaking her head. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I said shut up.”
“Am I wrong? If I am, prove it to me. Come stand out of the light where I can touch you. Show me how wrong I am.”
She didn’t move. She stood there in that shimmering nimbus of her own creation, staring at him in silence, looking so forlorn and lost he couldn’t stand it.
Darion reached out into the light and took her hand in his.
His forearm was bare under the loose-woven sleeve of his tunic. The skin burned instantly, scorching from even that scant exposure.
He didn’t care. His Breed cells would heal in moments, and he hardly registered the pain as he drew Selene toward him, into the cool shadows of the pergola.
