His crooked smile rose to join in with mine. “You’re clever. You hold the world in your hands, Wildfire.”
“I watched as Merrick changed into you, yet you twolookdifferent.”
“Does the moon look anything like the sun?”
“They’re both balls, one too bright to stare at.” Merrick. “And the other is eclipsed by the night.” Lorant. “I’m thinking out loud, here. You control this body at night, and Merrick’s in it during the day. Are your minds connected all that time?”
He stared down at me.
“No, then. But you can communicate, at least sometimes,” I said. “I heard Merrick talking, and I assume it was him speaking with you and then you with him after the switch.”
He blinked.
Night.
Day.
“You can only communicate during dusk and dawn?” I asked.
He leaned over and kissed me.
I reeled back before my body could melt into him, and jumped to my feet. Racing across the room, I swept my blades off the floor and spun to face him.
“I don’t recall begging for your touch, Lorant,” I snarled. “We made a deal.”
He chipped out a nod, though he grumbled. “I apologize.” Rising to his feet, he strode close enough to loom over me.
Naked.
Totally, brazenly, gloriouslynaked.
I stumbled backward. “Don’t kiss me again.”
He kept his predator’s pace with me and would soon pin me ina corner if I didn’t take care. “I can no more stop kissing you than I can stop breathing.”
“Clichéd sentiment, Lorant. Don’t think your dubious attempts at seduction will work on me any longer.” I kept backing away from him, brandishing my blades between us. But let’s face it, for now, I wasn’t as eager to swipe them across his throat or gouge them into his chest.
“Nothing I do isdubious,” he spat. “Everything I do has purpose.”
“So snarly.” After sheathing my daggers, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared up at him. “If you tried a little charm, you might actually make friends.”
“I don’t want friends.”
“None?”
A growl rumbled in his throat. “I can be charming.”
“Show me.”
Keeping his sultry gaze locked on mine, he bowed deeply. “Speak with me, my queen. Ask your questions, and I will answer them in the most charming way possible.”
“Blinks will do for now.”
But the longer I let all this churn through my mind, the harder it was to think of what questions to ask. There were thousands, but they were tangling together, and I couldn’t grab onto any of them long enough to spit them out.
My brain felt like it was drowning in mud. My arms and legs twitched from crawling across a freakin’ castle to get here.
There was only one way I could handle this now.
