Page 149 of Curse of Darkness
“Because it’s all about controlling your magic, Vi. You come up against someone who’s stronger than you with their power, and surviving might come down to the fact that you can wield yours better.”
“Did you ever have to do this?”
“Fire’s not my forte.” He shrugs, and then using his index finger, he draws a circle around him. Shadow billows out of nowhere, lurking around him.
Fire was always the one gift I owned, and while the work with Thiago is paying off, I still can’t seem to push past the last of my mental barriers. I can form arrows of flame, even make a sword if I’m concentrating, but anything else—beyond those creatures in the fireplace—eludes me.
“I’m not sorry,” Nanny Redwyne’s defiant voice plays in my memories. “The child needs to know the truth. Vi? Vi! Don’t you forget me. Don’t you dare let her make you forget me! You are strong. You are brave! Remember everything I’ve ever told you. Hold the flame, Vi! Hold the flame!”
Those were the last words I ever heard her spoke.
Right before Mother blinded and tortured her when she caught Nanny reading me a forbidden book that I’d begged for.
“Hold the flame,” I whisper.
But they gutter and die.
I’d hoped that as my memories returned, I’d be able to push through that mental block, but something’s still holding me back from fully accessing my power.
“You feeling okay?” Thiago asks, waving his shadows into oblivion. His shirt clings to him in the heat.
I twirl my finger near my ear. “My mind’s wandering today.”
“Understandable.”
But also unaffordable.
“Want to do something active?” He holds out a water flask toward me.
Black silk does wonders for his skin. He’s always been ridiculously handsome with those chiseled cheekbones and vivid green eyes, but ever since we arrived here yesterday, he’s been riding the killing edge. There’s something about the threat to me or the rest of his people that pushes him over that edge. I’ve seen that stance shift before, when he enters the ring with Finn, but not to this extent. Finn’s not a threat, after all, whereas here, now, he’s the Prince of Evernight. Every move he makes is self-contained, but potentially lethal.
Dangerous.
Gulping it down, I glance at him from beneath my lashes. I love curling up in his arms and simply listening to the beat of his heart, but these moments get to me in all the right ways. He’s wild in bed when he’s overprotective and snarly. I could make love to Thiago forever, but every now and then I need a good hard fucking from the Prince of Evernight. “What did you have in mind?”
Thiago takes the flask, putting his mouth exactly where mine just was. His pupils dilate as if he just heard my voice drop three octaves. “That sounds like an invitation, Vi. But you’re still healing. And I was talking about dueling.”
Dueling.Not quite where my mind was going. “I feel entirely recovered from your father.”
There’s a certain darkness in his eyes as he screws the lid on the flask. “That’s good to hear. And when Mariana gives us her approval, we can… resume normal activities.”
So controlled. I’m clearly not going to get my way. “This is bullshit.”
Thiago steps closer, caging me against the wall with a dangerous curl to his smile. “Someone’s on edge. Why don’t we finish up here with some dueling, then head back to our rooms? The alliance isn’t going to make their decision until after lunch. Maybe I can help scratch that itch that you’re feeling.”
“Define “scratch’?”
“Lick it into submission.”
Heat curls through me, though this time it’s got nothing to do with my magic and everything to do with his words. “You know I don’t do submission well.”
“You will if I tie you to the bed.”
Fuck. I’m so wet, and he hasn’t even touched me. Every nerve in my body demands his hands on my flesh, his teeth in my skin. We’ve both learned I don’t like to go to my knees willingly. No, I like it when he puts me there.
“Form your sword,” he says, in the exact same kind of voice he’d use to tell me to strip, “and then fight me. After that, we’ll go play.”
The breath explodes out of me. “Seriously?”
