Page 35 of Her Cruel Redemption

And then, the air stirred and I couldfeelhim. Right behind me.

I jolted, but he grabbed my arm, grip iron-tight. I surged forwards, trying to tear away, but he held on, spinning me. My back hit the wall. I screamed with fury, slashing out with my knife, meeting flesh a moment before my wrist was caught and pinned to the stone behind me. And Draven was before me, breathing heavily, too close and too much, like an abyss consuming all the world around him until there was nothing left for me but my awareness of him, his body a threat, his hands corroding my skin where they gripped my wrists.

‘You can’t hide from me,’ he said. ‘I could find you blindfolded and in a crowd. ’

‘If that was true, it wouldn’t have taken you so long.’ I kicked out to strike his knee, but he dodged me, crowding closer to demolish the space that had allowed me room to lash out.

‘I was giving you time. But you’ve had enough of that.’

I squirmed, thrashing against his grip, overwhelmed by the familiarity of him, the way he smelt, the way it felt to be pressed against him. My heart slammed against my ribcage as I tried to push against the wall and Icouldn’t get him off me.

‘Calm down,’ he crooned, ‘as much as I like it when you fight me, we need to have a little talk.’

Struggling was just giving him what he wanted. I stilled, panting, staring into his unflinching gaze.

‘Thereshe is.’ His mouth twisted into a wicked smile. ‘And that look in your eyes is just as satisfying as I imagined it would be.’

‘You’re going to wish you’d never come looking for me,’ I spat. I collapsed my knees and dropped my weight. It caught him off guard and he lost his grip on my wrists. I fell to the ground, immediately scrambling away, kicking out at his legs as I did, feeling my foot connect. He staggered, and I was already stumbling to my feet, already tearing back down that narrow staircase. Heavy footsteps pursued me. I darted across the kitchen, feeling a breath away from a hand finding its grip, spurred to run faster by the terror pulsing through my blood. I reached the door, slammed through it without stopping, bolting down the alley. It opened out into a square beyond, a market, dozens of empty stalls. I tore between them, dropping behind one painted with red and white stripes, crouched with a hand on my heaving chest, gasping for air that scorched my lungs. I’d lost my knife in the scramble, I realised.Fuck.I could hear his footsteps, slower than a run now, but drawing closer.

I groped for one of my last two knives, drew it. Gulped a deep breath for some semblance of focus as I adjusted my grip. Shot to my feet, pinpointed his figure making its way down the street, pace measured, steps deliberate. I flung the knife a bare moment after spotting him, dropping back behind the stall without waiting to see if it would hit and darting behind a nearby cart in a low crouch. And the whole time, I knew how pointless it was. Because at any moment, he could compel me. That’s why he wasn’t running. He could end this now and force me to come to him. He could force me to turn one of my knives on myself and he wouldn’t even have to get my blood on his hands.

‘Don’t waste your knives by throwing them,’ he drawled. ‘Come and threaten me properly.’

He was toying with me, trying to make me afraid. I pressed myself against the wood of the cart, fumbling the next knife as I tried to pull it from its sheath. It clattered to the cobblestones. My hand was shaking as I snatched it up. I couldn’t risk throwing it and leaving myself defenceless.

But… I wasn't defenceless.

I hesitated a moment longer. If I blacked out again, I was finished. But even if I did… it would be fucking worth it to shock him. To turn the tables untilhewas the one running. I reached for the staticky fizz of magic beneath my skin, drawing it together, down my arms and into my hands, all the way to the tips of my fingers.

‘Is your heart racing.?’ His voice was closer now. ‘Are you scared of what I’ll do to you when I get my hands on you, Rhiandra? You should be. You betrayed me.’

This was the moment I'd been waiting for. I wasdonewith running.

He thought I’d betrayedhim? He’d exploited me and blackmailed me and kept secrets from me, and he’d surely manipulated my emotions with magic and made me think I was in love with him.

And before any of that, he’d let themburnme.

All at once, the fear was overwhelmed by a searing rage, heightening the tang of magic coating my tongue, intensifying in a rush of pure power as sparks began to arc along my fingers. I didn’t care if I couldn’t aim. I couldscarehim. I tightened my fingers around the hilt of my one remaining knife.

In a burst of movement, he found me. His hand descended from above, snatching my upper arm, curling around it, tugging me upwards. I lurched around the cart, crashing into him as the hot static surged, rushing to the surface of my skin, leaping out of my hands in wild arcs, flashing so bright that shadows were scored across my vision, slamming into a target somewhere nearby with acrackthat rattled the ground. Draven released me and jolted backwards, stumbling a few steps to put some distance between us, staring at me in blank, wide-eyed shock.

Oh, Ilikedthat.

I liked how unnerved he seemed as he took me in from a distance. I smiled as I pushed myself off the cart, slowly raising my arms out either side, turning my palms to the sky as sparks crackled along my fingers, my hands, my forearms, popping and zinging in a throb that seemed tied to my thundering pulse. My hair stood on end, my blood buzzed in my veins and my smile widened as he took another step back. Flickering bursts of light surrounded us, flashing in time with the sparks in my hands, the harsh illumination picking out the dark hollows of his eyes, the sharp angles of his jaw.

‘Oh darling, you think what I did toyouwas a betrayal? I can do far worse.’ I flicked my hand , sending a volt leaping out, slamming into a stall behind him with anothercrack!It was nowhere near him, but it was enough to rattle ear drums, to make him stagger for balance as shards of wood burst into the air. Flames licked at the remains of the cart, quickly growing, heating the air and throwing their shifting light across us.

‘So I see.’ His gaze tracked across my face as he regained his footing, and there was a wariness replacing the shock. Heshouldbe wary. What could he do? Steal the thoughts out of my head? Bend my will? Make me feel things for him that weren’t real?

I was wielding fuckinglightning.I couldendhim.

Another bolt darted off me, followed immediately by another, without my conscious decision to release them. Both smacked into a nearby wall in a spray of dust and rubble. My head spun in a dizzying swoop, already beginning to throb, but the heady hit of power, ofelation, kept me upright. I felt almost giddy with it. Weightless. Invincible.

‘You’re using a lot of magic,’ Draven said slowly.

‘Damn right I am.’

‘Has anyone taught you how to control it?’

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