“What… are you looking for?” I said, choking.
“Illumina,” it hissed.
“What?”
His icy fingers grazed my skin. Anger stirred inside me as he searched me, treating me like an animal. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to fight. The stupid beast had attacked me from behind. If I’d had the ability to move, I would’ve gutted him.
The wraith pressed his knife, still slick with my own blood, to my throat. “Where is it?”
“Where… is what?” My vision blurred. Focusing was becoming difficult.
“The Illumina crystal—where is it?”
What was he going on about? A crystal? “I don’t know… ”
His blade bit deeper into my skin. I was fading fast, which meant he must have hit a vital organ. If I were going to die this way, then I would spend my last breath cursing the beast to the farthest reaches of Naströnd. “I’ll… kill you,” I said. “I’ll make sure you… suffer.”
Why was everything so blurry?
Through the haziness, I felt the weight of his body lift off my chest. Finally, I was able to breathe again, yet I still couldn’t make sense of anything. I heard his screams—heard steel ringing against steel and the scuffing of feet. But what was happening?
With the blood loss came the feeling of numbness in my fingers and toes, and then the cold, the shaking that wouldn’t stop, the chattering teeth. Time must have passed because the pain began to fade.
Am I dying?
A bright light pierced my eyes. I woke, gasping for air, and everything came into sharp focus.
I was back in the hotel room. Maveryck stood over me and held something in his hands—a crystal suspended on a silver chain. It shone bright with a silver-white light, but then it diminished, leaving the room in near darkness.
“I’m cold,” I whispered.
“That happens when you’ve lost large amounts of blood,” he answered.
Maveryck wrapped a soft blanket around me, and though I felt the urge to sleep, I forced my mind to stay active. I couldn’t afford to sleep now—not when he’d saved me. Could anything possibly be worse? Saved by the man with far inferior combat skills—it was too much.
I preferred death.
Sitting on the bed beside me, Maveryck’s gaze grew distant as he focused on the buildings outside the window. The red-and-blue lights from the tower drifted through the sheer curtain, illuminating his face. Though his lips were drawn, he was still seductively handsome. The dim lighting accentuated his deep bronze skin, and for some completely unknown reason, I had the urge to reach out and touch his face. It was a compulsion I couldn’t explain, but I needed to know what his skin felt like. Would his lips feel the way I’d imagined?
Yet there was something odd about him—about the way he sat without blinking, like he wasn’t quite human…
“Are you still cold?” he asked, though he didn’t turn toward me.
I snuggled deeper under the blanket. It must have been spun from the wool of a shakespin. Did they have those in Earth Kingdom? It was the warmest blanket I’d ever felt, and I couldn’t help but tuck it around my face and let its heat warm my cheeks.
“I feel wonderful,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow, and I focused on the crystal hanging around his neck, catching the light as it glowed against his chest.
Was that what the creature was searching for? I wanted to ask, but my brain and mouth didn’t want to cooperate with one another. All I could focus on was how wonderful I felt underneath the blanket with Maveryck sitting beside me, so close I could touch him if I wanted.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” he said. “You’re feeling the effects from the crystal. It won’t last long.”
“Mmm-hmm.” The sound of his voice was so deep and soothing. Had he always spoken so alluringly? Why did he sit so far away from me?
“Why does my wound still hurt?” I asked.
He turned to me. “It hurts?”
I nodded.
“That’s very odd. You shouldn’t feel any pain.” He moved the blanket aside, and I realized I only wore my underclothing. At any other time, I knew I would have been enraged over my indecency, but instead I lay still, not speaking, as Maveryck gently touched the skin surrounding the wound.
When I looked at the wound, I found only a faint white scar where the puncture had been.
“Magic did this?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “I used the crystal to heal you, so you shouldn’t be in pain.” He gently touched the scar. “Does this hurt?”
The feel of his fingers on my skin sent a shiver through my body.
“Yes,” I moaned.
He leaned closer, making the chain dangle from his neck. I grabbed it and pulled his face closer to mine.
“Do you want me?” I asked.
His eyes widened in confusion, and I kissed him before I had a chance to question myself. His lips felt warmer than I’d expected. He tasted intoxicating, as if I couldn’t get enough of him.
Without warning, he pulled away from me. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Were you lying about the pain?”
“Maybe,” I answered. A sly smile lit my face. “How did you figure it out?” I kissed his lips again, but he pushed away from me.
“You realize you’re not yourself right now,” he said.
“Does that matter?” I whispered in his ear.
He held back a smile. “Usually the effects of the magic don’t cause such a reaction.”
His nearness was driving me mad. The taste of his lips hadn’t been enough. I needed more of him.
Wrapping my hands around the back of his neck, I pulled him close, our lips only inches apart. I inhaled his scent. His cologne had a subtlety that reminded me of woody amber, raw and noble all at once. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from his. He held me spellbound, as if controlling me. I couldn’t look away if my life depended on it. He swept me away to a place
