Maybe I really needed to show him I wouldn’t be messed with. I had enough power to do it too. I just needed to tap into my viciousness, and lately, that felt more attainable than ever.
‘Go on then, unleash your flames on me, little witch,’ he teased in a velvety tone that scraped at something buried deep inside me. ‘A little warning, though; I’m not sure whether I’ll keep mine in check for long when you do. And I’m fae, my hair will grow back pretty quickly. Find something else to torch,’ the bastard winked, and I felt myself overheat.
Skies above, help me.
Daring myself to assess his physique, strictly for analytical purposes, it was as I’d presumed. ‘Did you seriously just get turned on talking about your grandma?’
‘Ew,’ River scowled, seemingly released from the momentary trance of passion. ‘Like a bucket of ice.’
‘What?’
Sidestepping a massive fallen branch, he offered me his hand, and I whacked it. ‘Doused my flames in a second.’
I barely contained my smirk, let alone the chuckle bubbling in my chest. ‘I would be a little concernedif it hadn’t.’
‘So would I.’ He winced, visibly more relaxed. ‘Back to our earlier conversation, what about Willow and Alexander bothers you the most then?’
We walked ahead, and my mind jumped between so many issues that I found it difficult to focus on just one. They weren’t even my biggest worries, just the most immediate. Willow and Alec, my mother, how this whole Crone search was supposed to look… There was so much weighing on my mind that sometimes it felt like one more problem would send me into a coma.
‘I guess the fact she is in the Isles now,’ my words came out quieter, the shame of admitting it aloud eating away at me. ‘It started to feel like my place.’
Lips pressed into a thin line, he looked ahead even when I searched for his eyes. I shouldn’t have been so forward, perhaps my honesty insulted him. After all, Fogoya had been so welcoming.
‘They keep fighting and screaming,’ I said, trying to change the subject, focusing on the crunch of soil beneath my boots to distract myself from the sound of my racing heart. ‘None of us can sleep with that ruckus going on. You’d think it was a battlefield.’
‘That bad?’ A faint crease formed between his brows. ‘I assumed the problem was that they accepted each other.’
I shook my head. ‘Quite the opposite. Willow wants off the Isles and back to Ortensia; he doesn’t want her going back because she’s depleted and possibly in danger. She keeps screwing everyone that crosses her path out of spite, and Alec’s beginning to lose his mind.’
‘Phew. What the f–' River paused. ‘Sounds horrible.’
‘It is funny at times,’ I chuckled at the memory. ‘One time she threw water in his face knowing she could die because she’s drained. It’s like an unhinged TV drama that you can’t switch off.’
He didn't laugh. ‘You know you can always come back to my castle, right? Platonic, or not, the room stays yours.’
I was beginning to think he misunderstood what the word meant. ‘No, thanks. I need my own space. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before he realises what a mess she is and lets her go.’
Something in him shifted. Stiffened.
‘No, he won’t,’ he claimed with confidence.
‘How would you know? You don’t know what she’s like and what she puts him through daily,’ I said, noting the sudden change. His aura seemed to darken, heavy with grief.
River held my gaze, clearly bothered by something he wouldn’t share. ‘Because he’s fae. In the grand scheme of things, he won’t care about any of that.’
That old chestnut… the fae and witch divide. The invisible differences that fae kept claiming put us apart.
I sighed, feeling a little frustrated. ‘And what would he care about?’
His gaze flickered away while he tried to calm himself down. There was real fire lurking in his eyes, burning beneath a frown as he looked ready to pounce.
I took a step back to give him some room to calm down, and they snapped to mine.
My mouth went dry. I swallowed, hoping he could keep it contained. There was no telling what might come of our connection. My fire was too eager, too volatile.
My heart raced, fear curling in my chest as I wondered if it might push us into something I wasn’t ready for.
With his fiery eyes, he looked more regal than I had ever seen him. Magic swirled viciously in his gaze as he struggled to steady his breathing. It was frightening.
