Page 48 of Flame and Starlight

“I don’t have the answer to that.” He wiped the rest of the tears off my face, and I agreed as I took a few steadying breaths. “But we will get you answers.”

He grabbed my face in his hands tightly and jerked my mouth to his in a bruising kiss that stole all the breath I had just taken. The sheer adoration in that kiss, in the skin-on-skin contact from him, made my knees weak.

“You chose me,” he said in a whisper on my lips. “No one has ever chosen me.”

My throat ached again, and I swallowed those tears. I could feel his whirlwind of emotions through our touch. There was so much pain in his heart.

“I will always choose you.” I stared into his eyes and thought about how Aoife had claimed he had marked me as his mate. That was something we would have to talk about. But it was on the back burner until we figured out what the hell was going on with my magic. And, honestly, when I looked up into his eyes, I didn’t care if he had marked me. A part of me, a part I wouldn’t let show itself yet, wasn’t angry. That little part was content to be his.

But it was overshadowed by the terrifying amount of power I had felt earlier. I was out of control, and it had been trying to overtake me. Whatever that voice was…it wanted out. It wanted me. And it had almost succeeded.

“Come on, little duck,” he said as he took my hand. “Let’s sneak out the back and maybe get you some hot chocolate on the way back?”

I smiled and leaned into his arm, breathing in his clean scent. “And sugared pecans, please,” I said as we made our way through the darkened corridors.

“Of course,” he said. “Anything for my princess.”

I sighed at the nickname and wondered now if that had more meaning than I had wanted to believe.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I told Asher everything. I told him about the uncontrollable power and about the voice that accompanied it. I told him about how it whispered for me to kill Aoife and how I was pretty sure it had also told me to kill him in a dream I had. He gave me his full attention and hung on every word until I was finished and folded my legs underneath me, trying to curl up and disappear.

He stared at the floor for a moment, and I watched him intently, waiting to see what he would do. We had both changed when we got back. He wore loose pants and a tight white shirt that clung to every muscle that was now taut with stress and worry. I played with the hem of his shirt he had insisted I wear.

“I want my scent all over you,” he had growled in my ear.

I didn’t protest after that.

But now, sitting wrapped in a blanket on the couch, waiting for him to respond to my story, I felt

self-conscious. The anxiety that I had rarely felt since crossing into this world was suddenly creeping its way back around me like ivy, gripping at my heart. Without even realizing I was doing it, I reached out my senses, my anxiety fueling the need to know what he was thinking, and skimmed the edge of his power with mine.

“You’re being a bit more gentle this time,” he whispered.

“Sorry,” I said and pulled it back. “My anxiety is a bit of a trigger for it.”

He grabbed my hands, and I watched our shadows twirl around us there, a cool breeze against our

skin.

“You never have to apologize to me for your power, Alys.”

I met his grey eyes and smiled, but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. I could feel the sob climbing its

way up through my throat.

“Something is wrong with me.” My voice broke. “Maybe I shouldn’t have changed. Maybe it took

so long because I wasn’t meant to be here.” I was spiraling. I could feel the panic take hold in my

stomach and chest, seizing my muscles. I couldn’t breathe. I stood up and paced in front of the sofa. “I

wasn’t supposed to be here, Asher. You brought me here. You took me and brought me here, and I

wasn’t supposed to be here!”

“I know,” he whispered into his hands.

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