No larger war.
Just the taste of her and the heat of her under his hands and the terrifying knowledge that he would burn everything required to keepher.
Magnus lifted his head slightly, still close enough to taste the warmth of her against his mouth. For a moment neither of them moved. Her lips were parted from the kiss, her body still pressed fully into his as though stepping away had never occurred to her. His hand remained at the side of her throat, thumb resting just beneath her earlobe where her heartbeat raced.
He watched the awareness move through her again. The realization that she was standing on a balcony full of enemies with her body molded against his. That his hand was on her throat, not in threat but in possession. That she had just told him not tostop.
Her fingers tightened against his chest.“Magnus,” she murmured.
The sound of it dragged heat through him. Their breaths mingling in the narrow space between them. For a dangerous second he considered abandoning the ballroom entirely. Taking her to a room in the hotel. Locking a door. Letting the rest of the night burn withoutthem.
Theninstinct stirred.
Magnus lifted his head a fraction more, his attention sliding reluctantly away from her mouth.
A small disturbance rippled through the darkness beyond her shoulder. Not sound. Not quite movement. Just enough to drag Magnus’s attention away from her mouth.
Something shifted behind her.
His body tightened.
Too late.
Steel flashed.
The blade drove towardElia.
Chapter 14
THE KNIFE CAME FOR HER THROAT.
Magnus reacted before the blade finished its arc. His arm shot up in a brutal interception even as his other hand locked around Elia’s waist and ripped her behind him. The movement was violent and fast. One moment she stood in his arms, the next her back struck the balcony wall as Magnus’s body slammed between her and the attack.
Steel struck flesh.
The blade carved across Magnus’s forearm instead of her neck. Cloth split. Blood burst across the white sleeve of histux.
Only then did the attacker speak.
“Move, Severin.”
Reality crashed through her in a swift, dizzying assault. The man had been directly behind her. If Magnus had been half a second slower, the knife would have opened the side of her throat.
“Not a chance, asshole.”Magnus drove forward.
The two men collided hard enough to rattle the stone railing. The assassin recovered quickly andjerked the knife up again, aiming a vicious thrust toward Magnus’sribs.
Magnus caught his wrist mid-strike.
The blade stopped inches from his chest.
For a suspended second they strained against one another, the assassin driving forward with everything he had while Magnus held him there as if the effort barely registered. Blood ran down Magnus’s arm and dripped from his fingers. He didn’t even glance at the wound.
Then Magnus twisted.
Bone cracked.
The assassin made a harsh choking sound as his wrist snapped backward.
