Page 57 of A Touch of Brimstone

“If he had magic, there’s no way he would have kept it a secret. He would have been found immediately. His ego couldn’t handle godlike powers.”

Dominic gave me a faint smile. His swift movements were as off-putting as Helena’s. A frowned beveled the corners of his lips as he looked out at the garden.

“Tell me about your boy—ex-boyfriend, Jackson.”

Since I’d never given him Jackson’s name, I knew he had all the information he needed. The general information.

“Why?”

He turned to look at me, his eyes lazily traveling the length of my body, lingering over my lips before they met my eyes. “Because I asked.”

“Technically you didn’t ask, you sort of ordered me.”

“Consider it a question.”

“Then phrase it as one. Give me the option to decline.”

He chuckled and returned to admiring the view. “It is rare that I ask and even rarer for me to be declined.”

“I’m overjoyed to be giving you such a rare experience.”

Abandoning whatever held his attention outside, he flashed a roguish smile, making me wished I’d phrased things differently. “Rare experience,” he said. “Intriguing.” He approached me in a slow, easy stride. I focused on the light splatters of other people’s blood on his shirt and how comfortable and oblivious he was with it.

“Will you tell me about your ex?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure what you’re looking for. I can assure you that there’s nothing magical about him. And if there were, he’d be leading the Awakeners and you wouldn’t be able to keep him from letting people know he’s a special little being.”

The love goggles were nowhere to be found. I’d loved Jackson’s confidence, but with clear vision, I could admit it had descended into self-aggrandizement. “Why are you curious about him?”

“Knowing him, I get to know you better.”

That caught me by surprise.

“You want to know me better. Why?” I sputtered. I had no chill in me.

“Helena was right. I find you intriguing. And the reason the Dark Caster chose you even more perplexing.”

Join the club.

“What drew you to a man whom you clearly don’t seem to like? The ending of your relationship is new, your dislike of him, but there are hints of residual feelings. He’s pursuing you, but you lack interest and don’t show any signs of rekindling the relationship. That speaks to a betrayal, and he’s seeking forgiveness.”

“He’s not seeking forgiveness. It’s acquiescence that he wants.”

His eyes narrowed on me. “You’re too nice to be aggressively rude enough to force him away,” he surmised.

“I’m plenty rude, he just has a high tolerance for it.”

Dominic continued to scrutinize me. He ruminated over my response to the point I felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze.

“Did Rei try to persuade you to go with her?”

Keeping the conversation between us seemed moot now that she was dead. I eyed Dominic’s bloodstained shirt again.

“Yes. The irony of her wanting to protect me from you—a lowly human she wanted to subjugate once the supernaturals were revealed.”

“You seem to want humans to know of our existence.”

He waited patiently as I considered his statement, still acutely aware of his light touch on my hand. His magic seemed subdued enough to ignore.

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