Page 172 of Emylia

“Princess. Please.” The devastation in Maalikai’s voice broke me.

“I can’t.” I’d resigned myself to my failure, knowing my defeat signified my death. But there was nothing more I could do.

“No.” Maalikai’s voice came out in a heady rush. “Elessandria will not claim you. You can do this.”

“I’m not ready to go. But if this is how I die, then Gods… let them know I didn’t go quietly. I love you all. Fiercely. Completely. Always.” My voice broke. My soul felt like it was splintering.

Lips pressed against mine, claiming my soul and wrenching my heart back. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know who held me.

Sebastian.

The kiss claimed me—deep, searing, alive. His scent—salt and smoke and something wild—wrapped around me like a shield. His body pressed against mine, his mouth moving with an urgency that shook me to my core.

He pulled back just enough to whisper, “I’m not losing you. You don’t get to leave me.” And then, “Remember what I told you? You are a weapon. You are chaos. And you are everything.”

But I didn’t feel like I was any of those things. I felt like I was drowning in this power, being pulled down and the life wrung out of me.

I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know how to fight this.”

His eyes hardened, shadowed in something that crackled my soul to life. Arms wrapped around me pulling me to his chest. Warmth tugged at my core as desire unfurled and recoiled impossibly tighter. Fingers bit into my skin as he clung to me, his fingertips claiming me as his. Breaking contact for a brief second, his lips brushed my ear as he whispered so only I could hear, “Tonight, I’m going to lay you down and lick every inch of you until you scream my name. I don’t care who hears it.”

Godsdamn it.

My thighs pressed together as I fought the all-consuming desire to tempt fate and throw myself at him.

“I’m going to have my fingers so deep inside you, that you’ll forget your own name as you shake and quiver until your juices cover both of us.”

Thunder shook the earth, lightning split the sky. Flames erupted at my fingertips—embers dancing like stardust. Fire crackled through my arms. Lightning danced over my skin. A deafening crack. A white-hot bolt struck the ground, close enough that the hair on my arms stood on end.

Sebastian.

Sebastian let out a chuckle, still holding me close, one of his fingertips rubbing back and forth on my wrist. Such a simple movement, accompanied by such a dirty mouth. He stepped back, laughing darkly.

“That’s it. Show me what you can do.”

I sensed Sebastian retreat, but only slightly. I couldn’t see him, my vision was blurred as power surged into my hands, it was like I was looking at everything under water.

Energy flowed and ebbed from me, conjuring in the base of my right hand. Fire consumed my fingers, tendrils of embers floated into the air, burning out before they touched the leaves of the willow. As I concentrated on the fire, wisps of flame grew, growing until it encapsulated my whole hand.

Not sure how to expel it, I crouched down, trying to douse the flame in the rain-infested grass—the grass sizzled beneath me, my handprint branded into the earth.

“How did you do that?” my mother asked Sebastian, breathless.

He shrugged. “I just made it easy for her to focus on one emotion. She always feels anger, but I could tell it unsettled her today. So, I thought we should try to harness a different emotion, one which I felt confident would work. I just gave her something specific to focus on.”

“Which emotion?” Maalikai demanded darkly, like he already suspected the answer. It was a question I would rather fire consume me than to answer.

“Doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “Can you just heal him, please?”

All eyes shot to Sebastian’s cindered flesh. Where his lips had brushed mine in that soul-claiming kiss, heat blisters already bubbled. Third-degree burns blistered his skin, his lips oozing with clear liquid. If we waited much longer, I wouldn’t be sure if my mother would be able to heal him entirely. And he was way too good-looking to blemish even a minuscule part of him.

“Oh my Gods. I did that.” Whispered words whooshed from me as I took in the devastation that a single touch from me was worth. Sebastian had paid a price far too high to save me.

Sebastian’s hand cupped my cheek, guiding my eyes to his. “I’m fine.”

“No you’re not.” My voice broke as the weight of what I was capable of sunk into my very core.

Sebastian captured my soul as he stared me down, pure determination radiating from him. “I’d walk through fire for you. This is nothing.”

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