Page 89 of Forged in Blood

She flutters her eyelashes. “You do flatter me so,filous mou.”

My friend. I scoff. Does she really think me so obtuse that I would fail to see through her avoidance tactics? She is skirting the question, and that alone tells me that she knows something about Ophelia. “Why, Enora? Does she possess magic?”

Her slender throat convulses. “Not that I am aware of.”

I inhale deeply, trying to tune into her emotions and determine if she is lying, but as powerful a witch as Enora is, she can easily mask them from me. “So? Your interest in her is what?”

Her gray eyes turn stormy, and I feel the wall she is erecting between us. “A favor for an old friend.”

My hackles rise. “What favor and for whom?”

“Merely to take the girl under our wing. Teach her the ways of our kind and determine if she has any latent power that we can bring to the surface.”

I narrow my eyes and scan her face, but she has all her defenses heightened against me. “And does she?”

“Like I told you a moment ago, none that I am aware of.”

She is hiding something else. “Who is this old friend?”

“There are secrets I must keep, even from you, Alexandros.”

Frustration rages inside me. “I could bite you and discover your truths.”

She shakes her head, her lips curved ever so slightly. “It would take you a century to break down my walls.”

I flick my tongue over my fangs. She has forgotten who I am. Closer to a few years, but still… “Time is something I have plenty of,” I say, bluffing.

Smiling fully now, she runs her nimble fingers over the lapel of my suit jacket. “But sweet Ophelia does not.”

Dammit! My rage burns for a different reason, tinged with possession and fear. “Do you intend her any harm?”

Her beautiful face twists with her own rage, causing her facade to slip for a second and reveal the old woman beneath the youthful mask she invests so much power in upholding. “How dare you suggest such a thing. It is more than likely your offspring would cause her harm than I.”

As much as that burns, if Ophelia were not what she is, that would be true, so I refrain from refuting her assertion. “If any harm comes to her, Enora…”

She tips her chin up. “If harm befalls Ophelia, it will not be at the hands of anyone from Silver Vale.”

All my instincts scream that her sincerity is real. But someone is undoubtedly pulling the strings of Ophelia’s destiny. Someone powerful enough to bind her powers and secure her attendance here with a minimum of suspicion. Is it the sameold friendthat Enora speaks of? Are the witches the key? And if so, I cannot believe that they are doing this for Ophelia’s protection, not given their history with the elementai. So why? Do they intend to use her power for their own ends? Manipulate her somehow?

I rub my temples, plagued once more by too many questions and not enough answers.

Chapter

Forty-Eight

OPHELIA

I’m stretching to return a book to its appropriate place on the shelf when an overwhelming current of desire strikes me. I clamp my thighs together and stifle a whimper. What the hell was that?

You make me so fucking hard, Kai, Xavier growls.

Malachi moans.So shut up and fuck me.

I glance nervously around the library despite knowing nobody else can hear what’s going on in my head. Well, except for the guys already having sex in there.What the hell are you two doing?

Xavier comes back with a wicked laugh.Fucking.

Do you have to do it in my head, though? Can’t you speak out loud to each other? I’m in the library.

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