I looked at Elle and then back at him. “Where?”
“Here.” His eyes narrowed sharply at Elle, and he snarled with such ferocity the temperature in the room dropped. “You. Get out.”
“Do you not realize the situation you are in?” Jyuri hissed through clenched teeth the moment the door clicked shut. “Are you oblivious to the number of people who are sacrificing themselves for you? Those who have done so from the beginning!”
I stared at him wide eyed.
“I wouldn’t care if not for Zorinna, so I am offering this warning for her sake alone. Do not ever disappear from here again, flimsy little Human. There are far worse things beyond these walls. And if you die and hurt Zorinna in the process, I will make you wish you never lived.” He dragged a long nail across the bedsheets. “It will be fun for me. I’m not fond of any creature who steals my darling’s attention.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, hoping the mixture of anger and hurt would go down with it. “I actually don’t realize the sort of situation I’m in! No one will tell me anything, except that my magic is a danger, and now, apparently, the outside world is a danger, too. Do you expect me to be your willingprisoner? To sit around twiddling my thumbs, waiting for an answer? I want to live my life!”
Jyuri’s yellow-gold eyes grew darker. “As expected of a Human. Ignorant, selfish, and unwilling or unable to imagine anything beyond their own two feet.”
A scoff left my lips before I could help it. “I’m ignorant—selfish—for my lack of excitement over my situation?”
“Yes, quite.”
Groaning in frustration, I balled my hands into fists at my side. “I don’t know why I expected anything more than riddles from a Fae. Look, I don’t care about your precious Zorinna—”
Hands were at my throat before I could finish the words. Sharp, black claws dug into my flesh until blood spilled around the points. An immediate pain bloomed in the back of my skull as the lack of air left spots in my vision. I had moments left before he crushed my windpipe, but I wasn’t capable of fighting him off. He was faster, smarter, stronger than I was on my best day. My mouth had gotten me killed, as my crew always said it would one day.
We can’t die yet, little monster.
A surge of magical energy coursed through my body like a breath of life. My vision cleared, sharper than before. Newfound vigor pumped through my aching muscles. My head was no longer foggy, and with the ability to think clearly, the only thing on my mind was to kill. With my second wind, I brought my hands to my neck, prying Jyuri’s off of me in one quick motion. Easy. So easy.
The unbridled rage that had clouded Jyuri’s eyes had melted into shock. “Child, cease this. Do not listen to him.”
He deserves it. He tried to kill us. He’s a liar. They’re all liars.
The garbled sound that ripped from my throat as I leaped for him was more akin to animal than Human. I was on him in an instant, tackling him to the ground, straddling his waist, andcurling my hands around his throat the same way he had done mine. My hands stained solid black, and the moment they’d made contact with Jyuri’s skin, that darkness crept up his throat, his jaw, his cheeks.
That’s it. Isn’t that nice, letting go of all of that hatred within you?
Jyuri made no indication that he was in pain, though his voice was strained as he spoke, “you can’t control it. You need to stop listening to him. He will kill you.”
“Like you tried to kill me?” My voice came out layered with the one I’d heard in my head.
He sneered. “It was a game, you sensitive thing.”
I smiled. Too wide. Too hungry to be my own. “Is this a game?”
My fingers squeezed tighter, and I let my magic flow through them. Tighter. Tighter, until the door burst open, and I twisted my head to find Alandris and Zorinna standing in the doorway, their faces pale with horror. And when I looked into their eyes, there was something else there, something more, and I hesitated.
That brief lapse of my focus was enough of an opening for Jyuri. He threw me off of him, sent a blast of ice cold blue flame in my direction, and everything went dark.
Arguing filled the room as I roused, slowly taking in my surroundings through half-open eyes.
“What were you thinking?” Alandris yelled at Jyuri, running his fingers through his hair in repetition.
“She irritated me,” Jyuri answered plainly.
“She irritated you, and your response was to strangle her?” Alandris let out a bitter laugh. “No, you know—that does sound like you. I’m the idiot for thinking you’d grown a conscious after all your time spent here in the mortal realm.”
Zorinna’s voice cut off the two males. “Jyuri! Jyuri, this is… too far.”
He froze and took a shuddering breath. “You are… upset with me?”
“We can talk outside.” Her eyes drifted over to me. “Nairu is awake. Let’s allow Alandris some time to speak with her. I doubt she wants to see you.”
