Page 34 of Flame and Starlight

“Well, she is just darling,” she purred, leaning forward and exposing more of her cleavage to him. Her hand found his forearm, and I stared at her fingers curling into the muscle there. She looked up at him from underneath her pale eyelashes and smiled. The decanter, still in my hand, exploded, sending wine all over the table and glass shards scattering. The deep red of the wine mixed with the blood trickled down my palm.

I blinked and looked at it. Had I done that? I looked at Asher, and he grabbed his napkin off his lap, wrapping it around my palm. The female’s hand lay limply in her lap. Small victories. His skin was rough against mine, and concern flooded into my veins, making my anxiety flare. My breaths came in and out in short bursts.

“Her strength is a bit off ever since I brought her back. Still getting your balance, right?” His eyes locked with mine, and I nodded. I took a deep breath and smiled wide.

“Please, excuse me.” I met a few faces staring at me. “I’ve been breaking things left and right, it seems.” I pulled my wrapped hand from his grip and settled back into my seat. Fae were beginning to filter out of the dining hall to go to the ballroom next door. It seemed my faux pas didn’t garner any attention from anyone other than our table.

“Why don’t we go dance?”

This female didn’t miss a beat. Her hand was back on his forearm, and my nails dug into the stillhealing cuts in my palm. The thoughts running through my head didn’t feel like my own. They were dark and twisted and wanted me to get her boney little fingers off his fucking arm. The weight of the dagger was glaringly obvious on my thigh. My magick rippled under my skin, calling me to use it. The candles on our table flickered as if they were being pushed around by a breeze. Asher’s right hand found my thigh and gripped it, hard, his smile at the blonde never faltering. The pain brought me back into the room, and I trained my eyes on my empty plate.

“Please, go ahead. I’ll save you a dance, Leona,” he replied coolly and took a sip from his wine. He waited until she and her friends were out the door before standing and motioning for me to do the same. He walked slowly to the door, and I stayed close to his side, our arms brushing up against each other. Her name replaced murderer in my mental chant I had kept going on a loop lately.

Leona. Leona. Leona.

“You need to control your magick, little duck,” he said out of the corner of his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered back. “I’m not sure what happened.”

He looked at me then and stopped to the side of the doors. “Either you’re just exhausted from the travel or…” He got a wicked glint in his eyes, and his hand grazed my collarbone, and then his fingers wrapped themselves around my throat. His thumb caressed my jaw. “Or you wanted to rip off Leona’s pretty little head out of jealousy.”

I scoffed. He called her pretty. My stomach clenched.

“I’m exhausted,” I managed.

His hand slipped from my throat and patted the top of my head condescendingly.

“Sure, little duck. Keep telling yourself that.” I swatted his hand away. “But there will be plenty of dancing to be had the rest of the trip. I think we should get you back before you decide to light the ballroom on fire.” I flipped him off where no one else could see. He tilted his head back in laughter and opened the door.

It was snowing, and I lifted my head to the sky to catch flakes of it on my tongue. He watched me for a moment before his wings flared out to his sides.

“It’ll be quicker than walking.” He shrugged. I took one last glance around the village and smiled at the kids running around the market stalls.

“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s do this.” I walked over to him and reached up to adjust his crown that had fallen to the side over the course of the night. He bent closer to help me reach it. Once I had finished, he scooped me up, and I buried my head into his neck. I told myself it was to hide from the impending view, but at this point, I wasn’t sure that was entirely true. I breathed in his scent, and it made my magick pulse.

I peeked over his shoulder as he stretched his wings wide. The subtle blues and purples caught in the firelight around us before he pushed off and we were in the air. I squeezed my eyes shut and dug my fingers into his neck.

“I’m not going to let you fall, Alys,” he said over the roar of the wind.

Ugh, what a cliché, I thought. I think I already have.

Murderer, Alys. Murderer, I chided myself.

As he flew us back to our little cabin, I thought back to what happened in the dining hall. It was a different side to my magick, and it was speaking to me, calling out for me to use it. It felt dark, and it was buried deep inside myself. The strange thing was, as terrifying as I found it to be, I had wanted to obey it.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“I gave you a gift, and you are denying it,” she whispered through the darkness. I looked around, trying to find where the voice was coming from. “All that power,” she tsked. “Just going to waste playing the role of his pet.” The voice reverberated around my entire body, making my adrenaline rage.

“Who are you?” I screamed into the distance.

“I know you can feel it, Alyssandra.” My name came out as a hiss. “It calls to you. Begs to be used.” Hands gripped the back of my shoulders, and I tried to spin around and pull away, but she held firm. All I saw were her glowing white eyes in a sea of black. Nyxa.

“Let go of me!” My heart was pounding, and my palms were sweaty. I couldn’t breathe.

“Use it. Use it. Use it! Use it! Use it! Use it!” she screamed and screamed at me. “Kill him. Kill him. Kill him! Kill him!” Her fingers gripped into my shoulder so hard I knew I’d have bruises. I squeezed my eyes shut, and a scream ripped out of my throat.

“Hey! Alyssandra!” The hands on my shoulders started shaking me.

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