Page 38

His blue eyes flash and my heart kicks. The air shifts, and it’s not from magic, but the intensity with which our eyes meet. His voice lowers, and a thrill shivers through me. “I will keep you safe, even if you refuse to help yourself.”

No. He’s not allowed to abandon me and then pretend like he cares just to make me obedient. With all the sass I have in my broken body, I roll my eyes. “Oh please. I’d hate to make the anguish you feel worsen by my continued nearness.”

Valen’s silence draws my gaze back to his. The moment our eyes connect, a jolt shocks through me and my gaze darts away.

Valen asks calmly, “Are you sure you do not want⁠—”

“No, I do not want to talk about your fucking letter!” My eyes squeeze shut, and I focus on calming my breathing. My scar stings, and I press a hand against it to ease the discomfort. Fucking Alasdair and his feeding. I switch tactics. “Wouldn’t Daddy be outraged when he finds a naked magician in his house?”

Valen waves a dismissive hand. “You’ll be fine. I placed you in my room to ensure he doesn’t find you before I speak with him.”

I startle so hard that I pull on at least three different injuries and squeak, “Your room?”

Valen smiles deviously, his blue eyes lighting. “Yes, my room. You’ll sleep here tonight.”

My eyes narrow as suspicion takes root. “And where will you sleep?”

Valen snorts. “What a stupid question.”

I grip the blankets despite the pain that shoots up my arms. “We are not fucking, Valen.”

Valen’s gaze slides over me, slowly, leisurely, until our eyes meet and my heart pulses. “Of course.”

I shove down my unhelpful reaction and nail him with my most threatening glare. “I’m serious.”

“And I am not an uncontrolled child. We’re both adults. We can share a very large and comfortable bed.”

I continue to glare, and the playfulness evaporates from his demeanor. He adds softly, “Truly, magician. With a curse on your scar, I’ll want to be close in case it breaks the stasis charm. We don’t know the nature of Alasdair’s magic. It defies all four threads and might not work by the same rules. When my father returns, I’ll discuss this with him and convince him to help you as well. We need to tread carefully. Being strategic will only benefit us in freeing Astoria and killing this creature before it causes more harm. We want the same thing.”

I swallow and slump into the pillows, defeated. “Okay. Fine. For Tori.”

Valen smiles. “See, magician? Doesn’t it feel so good to submit?”

I shoot Valen another glare, but have to look away quickly. His blue eyes with his porcelain face and dark hair are too much. That playful, hungry heat that sparks within them threatens to light the flame that I’m working so hard to snuff out.

I snarl, “V, Tori is locked in a statue, and you’re talking about fucking. What is wrong with you?”

Valen’s low chuckle vibrates through me. “Calm yourself. I’m simply playing with you. You make it too easy.”

The echo of Alasdair’s voice saying something similar twists in my gut.

Valen continues, “Our unfortunate reality is that there is absolutely nothing either of us can do about Astoria’s situation other than to plan and put steps in motion towards the end goal of freeing her.” When my mood darkens, he crosses his long legs. “Do not get me wrong, the idea of Astoria being imprisoned is like a blade through my heart. I am utterly destroyed.”

“You don’t seem destroyed,” I grumble.

“That’s because I have good breeding. This—” he swipes his arm elegantly up and down his lithe frame “—is what I’ve been trained to always be. Do not get testy with me because your poor breeding keeps you from recognizing the subtle signs.”

I groan and roll my eyes, “I forgot how annoying you are. Does your own arrogance ever grate on your nerves?”

“There’s nothing to get annoyed at when perfection has been achieved.”

I huff. “You sound like Tor.”

His smile shifts, his face softening as a flicker of something true slips through. “Comes with the hazards of growing up together, I imagine. We picked up many similarities.”

An instant later, the expression is gone, and that glint in his blue eyes is back. His velvety voice is low, his words curling at the base of my spine. “Let me assure you, magician. I will respect your wishes. If you do not wish to resume our previous dalliances, then we won’t. However, if you change your mind…”

He doesn’t lean forward. He doesn’t need to. The look in his eyes, the way he tilts his head, makes it feel as if his lips brush against the base of my throat. Ripples of tingling anticipation erupt through me when he says, “I would love nothing more than to fuck the pain and misery out of you until all you can think and breathe is my name. Who knows? Maybe it will keep Alasdair from feeding off your suffering if you’re trembling with pleasure.”