I stepped forward into his space—a challenge. The rise and fall of his chest brushed against mine. He clenched his hands at his sides, knuckles turning white, and stared down at me.
“You haven’t ever touched me without asking.” The statement flew out of my mouth before I could rethink it.
For all of Krait’s brooding, barking, big-bad-wolf ways, I realized that this man, the Shadow Origin, seemed to keep me at arm’s length. He’d taken my hand at the river only briefly and with permission. He’d only let his Shadows descend on me once upon meeting me.
Maybe once was all it took for most people to learn to not cross him.
I’d always been a slow learner.
“As I said...you can be taught to preventanyonefrom laying a hand on you against your will ever again. Me, those men, Caym. I, frankly, don’t understand why your powers haven’t grown completely out of control by now.”
I didn’t understand what he had invested in my being the Daughter of Isleen, in my power. That made me weary. “Because I am a full Reverist?”
“Yes,” he answered. “You should be lethal by now—unstoppable. Your power is one that even the Origins feared. I don’t know what has stifled your magic’s growth, but you have the capability of compulsion—to completely control the feelings and actions of others.”
His closeness did weird things to my body.
I shouldn’t trust him.
Instead, heat gathered low in my abdomen, and I licked my lips. The way he gazed at me wasn’t full of fear. It was full of something akin to excitement or adoration.
The iron ring of his irises glistened, making me wonder what he would have done if I climbed him like a tree right there in the hall.
No man had ever infuriated me this much, and somehow that equated to attraction.
“Fine,” I agreed. “Then we start figuring out how to make me ‘unstoppable.’ You teach me about what it means to be a full Reverist, about everything you know.”
I let my gaze lower to his lips, then past them to the stubble that ran down his neck and further to where the dark hair on his chest disappeared below his tunic. My hands had begun to sweat, so I wiped them on the silk of my skirt, which drew his attention downward.
He might not have been touching me, but there was something about the way his stare lingered that felt heavy and sensual.
He cleared his throat. “We’ll need to announce our intent to marry soon. Write who you need to write beforehand. If the threat comes from within your realm, our marriage will be a show of strength.”
Those words nearly jolted me out of whatever lust-filled fog I’d slipped into. I’d need to write to my friends…to Emmerick. This was not news that I wanted to reach any of them secondhand.
“I have a sneaking suspicion that there is more that you’re looking for in me than just an ally,” I whispered.
“There is,” Krait whispered back as he ran a hand through his dark tousles of hair, which I imagined pulling in a different context.
“There you two are.” Ryn rounded the corner of the hall, and Krait stepped away from me with lifted brows. The last Prince of Phynx smirked as though he knew exactly what he had interrupted.
What had he interrupted?
Two angry royals undressing each other with their eyes?
My head swam with confusion, fear and need.
I had to share a bedchamber with this man for Sources’ sake. I couldn’t keep fantasizing about ways to get him in some state of undress in the middle of a hallway.
Ryn reached us. Krait’s cheeks flushed mauve, which gave me a sense of satisfaction.
“Happy to report that an Egress has been built into a warded building in the courtyard. We are heavily guarding it—but travel for your friends in Luz is ready,” Ryn explained. “We also received notice that the next council meeting will be moved up to next week.”
I smiled—the thought of seeing familiar faces, ones I trusted, filled me with a warm sense of ease. “I will send word to Asterie and Fen. They’ll join us for dinner after the meeting.”
Who I reallyneededto see was Emmerick. I doubted he’d come anywhere near the Sahlms even if I begged.
The reality of what the prisoners had shared set in, and my smile faded. There was a chance that visiting him would put me in danger—something Em wouldn’t want.
