A slow smirk spread across his face. “If you activate your potion, you’ll win a prize.”
“What would I win?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“How do I know it’s worth it, then?”
“Oh, it’s worth it,” Altair said with another smirk.
Iyana thought on it. “And if I can’t activate the potion?”
“You’ll wear your shoes the rest of the way to town.”
She gasped indignantly. “Oh, I’m winning this.” Altair just chuckled.
Settling in on her knees again, Iyana closed her eyes. Altair’s hands were still over her own, but it was comforting, not distracting. She tapped into her magic instantly, and then tried to direct it at the potion, but it felt as though a solid wall was in her way and there was no way to break through. Iyana battered against it; she would bring it down brick by brick if she had to.
“Focus,” said Altair.
“I am focusing,” Iyana gritted out.
“You’re forcing it, love,” he said. “Turn your mind to the potion, envision all the individual ingredients—the ones you’re intimately familiar with—coming together. Recognize the potential they have separately and together. And then…turn it on.”
He was right. She knew these ingredients. What each of them could and couldn’t do on their own, their best applications, what to mix together to gain the desired outcomes. She’d been studying this practically since she was born. The only difference now was the magic. Probing out towards the potion gently, she identified each ingredient. The spring water poured through her, the eel slipping across her skin.She smelled the spice of the ginger and tasted the almonds with their hint of cyanide. The willow bark made her grounded, rooted to the earth. She was a part of nature, and it was a part of her. Then she wove the ingredients together, willing them into what she desired. And…it worked. The change was almost instantaneous. Subtle, but her magic detected the difference.
Opening her eyes, she saw Altair grinning widely. “I did it!” she exclaimed.
“You did,” he said, proudly.
“I believe,” she said, bragging, “you promised me a prize.” She was going to ride this high all the way to town. And then she’d sleep in an actual bed. This was turning out to be the best day of her life.
“I did.”
“Well, then, pay up.”
Altair took his hands off of Iyana’s, and ever so slowly raised them to cup her face. His thumbs stroked along her cheekbones, and her breath lodged in her throat. Tingling fire followed in their wake. Golden eyes followed the tracks of his thumbs, then dipped to gaze at her lips.
“So beautiful,” he muttered. Then his lips crashed onto hers, his hands tangling themselves in her hair. Shock ricocheted through Iyana. Altair had flirted with her, sure, and there was the ‘incident,’ but she’d never thought this was an actual possibility. His lips were so soft, just as she thought they would be. Sleeping next to him in the cave, she’d wanted to kiss him. Wanted to learn what he tasted like.
Angling her head back, he deepened the kiss, sweeping his tongue across her lips. With a breathy moan, she opened for him, her tongue dancing along his. The vial lay forgotten on the ground as she clutched his shirt, desperate to get closer. She wanted more,neededmore. Iyana was determined to feel his skin against hers. But before she could try to reach inside his shirt, or pull him to the ground, or clamber into his lap, he suddenly stopped. Whispering something quietly against her lips, his bright gilded eyes stared into hers. Her lips lamented the loss of his. Altair’s hands remained in her hair, and hers fisted in his shirt. In his gaze, she thought she saw adoration, but also confusion.
“I’m so sorry, my star,” he said, detangling his fingers from her long hair, “but I can’t.”
Iyana’s hands went slack from shock. Was he not the one just kissing her without abandon? She must have read the situation wrong. Again. He was giving her what she wanted in order to manipulate her to do his bidding. She’d been so foolish. Embarrassment hit her first, but fuck that. Fuck him. Righteous anger filled her body, and she shoved him away.
“Phaedrosfuckingtake me, Altair, you’re going to give me fucking whiplash,” she yelled. He sat back on his knees, letting her say her piece. “First, you make all these innuendos, and corner menakedin a hot spring, and then you don’t talk to me for almost three days! Now, you’re giving me the best godsdamn kiss of my life and then saying youcan’t? Can’t what?”
“The best kiss of your life?” he asked, smirking. Of course, that would be the only thing a man would take away from her rant. Iyana rolled her eyes.
“Not the important part, Altair,” she said, still seething. “Do you want me, or not? I don’t need this back and forth. And I loathe playing games. I’m too old for this shit, and so are you.”
“No games, my star,” he said, solemnly. “I can’t—wecan’t, because—” She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. Instead, he sat there, staring at his hands. His eyes were the dullest she’d seen them.
“Because why, Altair?” she asked, resigned. The fight drained out of her. “Because I’m human?”
He shook his head.
“Thenwhat?” she yelled, exacerbated now by this back and forth with no concrete answers.
