Page 30 of Of Nine So Bold

And pray to the gods we weren’t making a mistake.

Roan shuddered, worry still lingering in his gaze. But after a moment, reluctant agreement took its place. “Okay.”

With an expression like he was swearing inside, he closed his eyes.

Cracks lit by fire ripped through the area around his eyes, his temples. His skin turned the color of dark ash, like the fire inside him was charring it all. His body warped, growing, transforming. Enormous wings erupted from his back, tipped by curved bone as sharp as knives, and a thick, sinuous tail hung down from the base of his spine. The bone structure of his skull became sharp and pronounced, savage with its severity and only barely like his Erenlian face. Thick black horns rose from his head and vicious claws extended from his fingers, all of them gleaming in the starlight. Two long fangs glinted past his black lips, but he didn’t grin like every time I’d seen him before.

I braced myself.

The demon’s eyes were fire with a dark star at their center. They were trained on me, but devoid of their arrogance.

Somehow, it felt like the demon was bracing himself too.

“I…” He spoke like he was choosing his words carefully. “…will help.”

A tiny breath escaped me before I could stop it. “Thank you.”

In his fiery gaze, a painfully desperate sort of hope flared. He squelched it quickly, though, sliding his burning eyes to Byron. “Begin. Now.”

The scholar didn’t respond, but the flecks of starlight began moving again.

Standing rigid, the demon’s blazing eyes twitched from side to side, distrustfully tracking the glints of light. But as the seconds ticked into a minute and then another, he returned his attention to Byron, consternation on his face. “You are restraining yourself. Why?”

Byron flinched and then caught himself. “Quiet.”

“You are keeping your power from touching Gwyneira. You will not be able to feel the nuances necessary to complete the spell.”

At the edge of the fog, Clay made a choked sound of incredulity. “Is the big guy telling you how to do magic, Byron?”

The demon’s gaze snapped to Clay, heated by his temper as much as fire. “I am telling him how tohelp.” His pointed glare faltered, and his attention darted back to me. Worry flickered across his face like he feared I’d be mad at him before it vanished once more behind a stone-like expression.

I stared, stunned. This was the creature who’d ripped out a man’s heart for being rude to me. And now he was concerned about taking an irritated tone?

Lars cleared his throat. “Maybe demon guy has a point?”

“Quiet.” Byron bit off the word.

Apprehensive looks passed between the twins. Even Casimir seemed like he was becoming concerned.

Byron scowled.

The coiling specks of starlight suddenly drew in, flowing across my skin before twisting onward to Casimir. The fog grew thicker, obscuring our forms, turning us into ghostly shapes in the mist.

But the starlight never stopped. At first, they were threads, separate and easily traced. But then there were more. And more. So many I lost count.

And gods they felt… good.

I trembled, fighting to keep myself from moving as the sparkling energy drew in farther, sinking into me even as it sank into Casimir. I couldn’t see the light beneath my skin, but that hardly mattered. I could feel it spiraling through me, tracing something, mapping every inch of it in a way so intimate, it was a good thing I didn’t need to breathe.

But damn, I wanted to moan, and so did the vampire inside me.

The spiraling light coiled tighter, wrapping something so deep within, it nearly made my legs go weak. My core clenched. My breasts ached. This power was like the intimate touch of a lover, caressing my innermost parts until it was all I could do to stay standing.

But Byron wasn’t even looking my way. His bearing rigid, he stared at the space between Casimir and me like neither one of us actually existed.

This couldn’t be him. Admittedly, yes, the feeling hadn’t started until the demon insisted Byron let his power actually touch me. But surely the scholar would be exhibitingsomekind of reaction to this if it was his doing?

Nobody could bethatcontrolled.

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