Page 68 of Emylia

And when he took the seat beside me—his body so close I could feel the heat rolling off him—I didn’t dare breathe.

His gaze never wavered.

Not once.

Not even as Sebastian glared at him, his expression unreadable.

In a single heartbeat, their eyes met—me caught in the space between them.

Maalikai. Sebastian.

Fire and shadow. Ice and fury.

Two storms barreling toward collision.

And I was the lightning bolt hanging in the middle.

Sebastian was on his feet in an instant, the warmth of his body soaking into mine as he leaned around me, looking lethal in all his dangereous glory.

Maalikai followed suit, rising to his feet on the other side of me, his body so close it brushed against me. His shoulders squared. His hand curled into a fist atop the table, knuckles white with restraint.

The air thickened. Every eye around us seemed to fade, the noise of the feast dimming until the only sound left was the ragged breath between them.

Between us.

The carefree relationship I had witnessed earlier today had crawled up and died, replaced by malevolence.

“I thought you weren’t the jealous type,” Sebastian said, voice low—cut from smoke and steel.

Maalikai finally looked at him.

Not just looked—measured.

Weighed.

And found him lacking.

“I’m not.” The words were quiet. Controlled. Deadly. “I just don't like to share what's mine.”

Sebastian laughed once, sharp and joyless. “Then I suppose you’ll have to get used to disappointment. Because Em will never be yours”

I stood, heart hammering, the tension pressing against my ribcage like it wanted to burst out of me.

“Stop. Both of you.”

But they weren’t listening.

Sebastian leaned closer, arms braced against the table like he might launch across it. Maalikai’s gaze flicked to me for half a second, then back to him—challenging. Unmoving.

“You think just because she held your hand tonight, it means you’ve won?” Sebastian asked, a growl curling under his words.

Maalikai’s jaw ticked. “I don't lose. You'll realise that when she makes her choice”

“And what makes you think she hasn’t already? I'm pretty damn sure her lips on mine was a pretty big hint.”

That did it.

Maalikai prepared for blood.

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