‘You want me to try to do something that could get me killed?’ I reply, folding my arms across my chest.
‘I’ve already told you, no one is going to come down here. Now, see if you can freeze the water.’
It doesn’t matter how many times I try to tell Kyor that whatever it looked like to him, the magic that killed Oke was the spectre’s and not mine; he refuses to believe me. Maybe because I don’t have any evidence. Not that I haven’t tried to get some. I’ve been down to the library every afternoon for the past ten days, trying to find Caroline to check on how she’s doing and to ask for her help with researching the matter. I figure that maybe having a task to focus on might help her with her grief, but there’s been no sign of her. I’d like to think that she’s not been avoiding me on purpose, but I can’t blame her if she is.
Still, Kyor’s been insistent that we should see if the powers are still within me. Just to check. And finally, I’ve given in.
‘Just try to freeze that water,’ Kyor pushes, gesturing to the bowl in front of me.
‘I don’t know why you think I can do this,’ I repeat. ‘I can’t.’
‘Just try. Please.’
I let out a slight huff before directing my attention to the bowl.
With my focus on the water, I tense the muscles in my hand so hard that my fingers start to throb.
‘Why are you helping me do this?’ I snap in frustration when nothing happens. I spin around to glower at Kyor. ‘You know only one of us will be gifted.’
He nods, pairing the gesture with a brief shrug. ‘You’re right. But maybe some things have become more important to me than the gifting. Like keeping you alive. And you having control over whatever magic you were able to conjure in the trial is part of that.’
Silence falls between us, stretching into a tension-filled silence with one unspoken question. One I want to ask, only I’m not sure I want the answer. Namely, why would the future king – a man who can have anything he wants in an instant – need the greatest gift offered by the Gods?
He parts his lips and for a split second I think he’s about to tell me. But then he glances back at the bowl and the water within it.
‘Practise,’ he says. ‘Freeze it.’
We stay there for almost an hour, after which the water definitelyfeelscolder, but that’s probably just because it’s a chilly night. Or maybe because my fingers have lost the ability to feel. Either way, I’m spent.
‘I need to stop. This isn’t working. I told you, it’s not my magic.’
He presses his lips together as though he still isn’t convinced, but thankfully he doesn’t press the matter any further.
‘Can we just head to bed?’ I say, looking up at him.
‘If that’s what you need.’
‘It is.’
I don’t make any pretence of heading upstairs. Instead, I cross the kitchen and walk into the dimly lit space that is solely his. His drawings are still on the desk. Most of them are of his wolf, though some are of people. I know there’s one of Zelle as I caught sight of it the other day, but I haven’t looked through the others. Even when he sketches late at night, while I doze in bed, I haven’t asked him what he’s working on. If he wants to show me, he will.
The room is lit only by the glow of a single lamp. As he strips off his shirt, the light catches the ridges of his back, his muscles glistening as he moves and flexes. I reach out and trace a line between his shoulders and feel him shiver beneath my touch.
‘Rose …’ My name comes out as a breath, a barely there gasp. As he stands, as stoic as a statue, I move my hand further down his back to the hollow at the base of his spine. Then lower still.
But before my hands reach his waistband, he spins around and grabs me by the wrists.
‘You know the rule.’
‘Not as a distraction,’ I say, my hands now on the bare skin of his torso. ‘But what was it you said to me?You are the distraction.Isn’t that right?’ I smile, though the gesture is snatched away as a memory of Holden’s words crosses my mind. How this is a game and Kyor’s going to grow bored with me.
I’ve never been naïve enough to think that whatever this is will last forever, but to be over so soon, before it even really started, hurts more than I would have expected. I cross to the other side of the room before twisting back to face him.
‘You know, if you changed your mind about wanting this, I understand,’ I say, trying to keep my voice steady. ‘But at least have the decency to admit it.’
‘What?’ His eyes widen as he looks at me with pure disbelief. ‘Why would you say that?’
‘Why?’ I can’t help the bitterness of the laugh that escapes my throat. ‘Because every time I try to initiate something, you brush me off. You barely kiss me, unless it’s just a peck. When I strip to climb into your bed, you turn away from me. And you’re gone most of the time when I wake up. If all you want is friendship?—’
