“And that’s all well and goodifI could summon it,” I answered, once my thoughts had quickened. My cheeks felt hot, but I narrowed my eyes on him nevertheless.
His hand moved, drifting to my shoulder. Something strange happened. I felt the rasping touch of heartstone magic, but it was like I was wrapped in it. I heard the distant murmurings of whispers, but it wasn’t alarming. It felt like a comfort as I stared up at Alaryk.
“I…I can hear something,” I told him quietly, my eyes widening. His hand moved over me, skimming down my arms. I realized it washim. He was calling the heartstone energy toward us, like a magnet. Funneling it straight to me, to make it easier for me to grasp.
“Follow,” he whispered, leaning down to murmur the word into my ear. His lips brushed the pointed tip of my ear, making my toes curl in their boots. “Follow where I guide you. Or push me away, Amaia.”
My eyes drifted shut as my hands found his wrists. So thick and wide, my fingers didn’t meet on the other side. I could feel the pulse of his heartbeat, strong and steady. I shivered, feeling my magic grow warm and languid. Like metal in a forge, malleable and molten. It rose. Tangible. My breaths went heavy with it.
Thiswas what I wanted to learn.
“Show me,” I said, determined. I didn’t care if my voicesounded like a plea.Thiswas power. Alaryk had wielded his with mastery for much longer than I had. And I wanted to know how. Maybe then I wouldn’t be so frightened of it. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel like I was risking my own life every time I had to call it to me. “Hanniva.”
Please.
He made a gruff sound in the back of his throat.
Then his hand rose. It dove into my hair, and I felt him tangle it into the strands, pulling back my head so he could peer down into my gaze.
“Know this was not meant to happen like this,” he told me. His expression looked wildly furious, though still simmering in his own control. For a reckless moment, I wanted to see that control snap. Even I knew I shouldn’t want that.
The magic rising made a droplet of sweat roll down the back of my neck. Why was it sohot? A strange desire pricked my body, swirling in my lower belly. Perhaps magic and seduction were intertwined, just as he’d said. But it embarrassed me to feel it.
“Nothing has happened,” I breathed. “Maybe nothing has to.”
His scowl lightened. “You feel it?”
“Lysi.”
“Practice keeping it there,” he told me, his tone hushed. “I’ll show you.”
I felt it then. The familiar touch of his magic. Only it felt different. Before I had likened it to a warm current in an icy river.
Now it felt like the drag of his calloused fingers against my bare flesh, making me arch. A moan fell from me, but I couldn’t even be embarrassed by it. Had he done that on purpose?Couldhe have even done that? It feltgood. Sinfully good.
My lips parted as I stared up at him. His eyes began to glow a bright blue. Heartstone blue.
I could only describe it as threads intertwining when hismagic met my own. I felt thecolorof it, and it felt like a burst of gold within me. Beautiful and pure.
Only then I panicked. Because it felt like he could just claw his way up my throat and he’d be inside my mind with no resistance. I would give himanythinglike this. Every secret spilled for him, just as he’d wanted that first day I’d met him.
It was vulnerable and shocking.
“You’re fighting me again,” came his voice, sounding far away, just as it had in the forest. “Hold on to it. Let me guide you.Trust me, Amaia.”
Could I?
I didn’t know.
“You’ll come to know my magic with the familiarity of my touch,” came his smoky voice. “That is when you’ll stop fighting. When you know I won’t hurt you. Or break my promise to you.”
This felt more intimate than I ever thought possible. His wrists were firmly in my grasp. I could push him away at any time. There was a laughable comfort in that.
But hewasjoined with me. More than anyone had ever been before. Even sex had never felt this intimate.
It felt raw. It felt aching. I wanted more, and I wanted it to stop. I was both breathlessly greedy and breathlessly frightened.
“Just for a moment,” he murmured, his lips brushing my ear. “Let me show you what’s possible,mariss.”
