Before she could reply, he bent in. She felt his heat. “Tell me, how much did that idiot pay you for that pathetic fuck I saw? Bet he overpaid.”
His lips brushed her ear. It wasn't a kiss—it was a threat. “Such a shame I'll have to go after your sister when I'm done with you. Cary?—”
The name alone made the blood drain from Audrey’s face. Cary was the only person left who mattered, the one thing Audrey would burn worlds to protect. Ryker knew it, and that was what made his threat hurt greater than any physical wound.
“Don’t say her name.”
Then, the lid over her power came loose, a crack in her blank mask exposing a flash of terror and rage. Gold fire gushed from her hands. It didn’t merely stutter into existence—the power burst out of her. Flame moved along her arm, licking across her skin without burning, until it hit him.
The heat tore through his shirt in a clean line of destruction. He stared first at the damage, then at the gold twisting aroundher hand. Surprise lit up his eyes, followed by something much more threatening.
There you are.His mind went quiet with focus after that thought.
She forged on. “My pussy costs more than you could afford,” she said sweetly. Another flame burst at him, faster.
This time, he blocked it—barely. It still slammed into him, splintering outward like light hitting glass as he absorbed the blow and the fire. A snarl ripped from his throat.
He was a siphon, like her mother. Someone who could drain power from others and use it as his own—a rare and dangerous ability, Mihail had said.
Ryker was more impressive, though, because he wasn’t just draining it. He was reading it as it moved through him, learning its structure, mapping the shape of her power while he took it.
“Careful,” he taunted. “It’s treason to threaten the king’s life?—”
“That’s hilarious.” Gold flared on her hand. “Think about my sister again, and I’ll remove your head, Your Majesty.”
He moved without warning or buildup. One moment later, and his hand was around her throat. While his grip was firm, it wasn’t crushing. His intention was easy to read. He wanted to stop her, and he did, interrupting her momentum mid-strike.
But his eyes changed, and he didn’t seem human anymore. Not that he ever was one, but now he looked less like a man and more like a thing wearing one—too unmoving and too certain.
Killing her would be easy.
He wasn’t even trying to keep the thought away from her.
Of course, it would be easy. They both knew it.
But would he do it?
His eyelids blinked slowly, and Audrey had her answer.
The truth was, Ryker didn’t want to kill her. He wasn’t being gentle or kind by sparing her, though—he was curious.
Clenching her shirt, he pulled her closer. “That’s the last time you interrupt me.”
“Yeah?” she breathed. “Teach me a lesson.”
His fingers caressed her mouth in a slow, deliberate motion. Desire unfurled low in her belly despite the threat, and Audrey instantly hated the confusing rush. The sensation was as much fear as it was attraction, tangled together so tightly she couldn’t separate them. It wasn’t even an attraction…it was more a gut punch of panic and expectation. Like the sick, electric recognition of two weapons built to wound in similar ways.
A feeling inside her recoiled at those thoughts, shame and want twisting together. Was she really this person, meeting violence and vulnerability with something raw and hungry? She wished the answer was no. But in the silent dark places of her mind, Audrey recognized the shape of this longing, and she could not deny the disturbing pull.
I want to see what you become when someone breaks you.
She wanted him dead.
And, far more dangerously, wanted him closer.
Her power lashed out in an uncontrolled wave.
He snapped his hands out, countering, barely. Which shocked him.
