Page 99 of The Shadow Wand

The second his face is out of his father’s sight, Lukas drops his grin. It’s quickly replaced by an expression of intense urgency.

I click the door shut, my heart hammering in my chest, an inferno coursing through my lines. I need time to disperse my power. And to sort out what’s true and what’s false in what I’ve just heard.

It was a terrible mistake, coming back here.

The thought gains traction as the magic strafing through me ratchets higher, a stiff thread of defiance tightening my gut.

On impulse, I reach out toward the door and throw the lock firmly into place.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ALLIANCE

ELLOREN GARDNER

Sixth Month

Valgard, Gardneria

Tiny black vines curl through the door’s brass lock, and it clicks open.

Lukas opens the door, strides into the room, and shuts it, then sets the lock back into place as the vines disappear.

He cocks a brow at me. “You honestly thought you could lock me out?” He glances back at the door’s lock before shooting me a look of incredulity.

I grab a wooden-handled hairbrush from the vanity beside me and level it at him threateningly, my power streaming toward the wood in a staggering rush.

My arm trembles as I back away a step, a cornered defiance whipping through me. “I heard everything you and your father just said, Lukas. And now you’re going to listen tome. There’s no way I’m going to let you or Vogel or anyone else control me. And I amnotfully Sealing this fasting.”

Lukas calmly takes in the hairbrush. He nods, his gaze darting once more to the door, then back to me. “Elloren,” he says, a sliver of urgency running through his measured tone, “put the hairbrush down.”

“I don’t know what to believe,” I throw out at him as chaotic power sparks through my arm, straining toward the River Maple brush, “but if one single thing that you told your father is true, Iwillfight you, Lukas. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

Lukas splays his hands out in a conciliatory gesture. “I kissed you. I have a pretty good idea.” He turns one hand over and holds it out, palm up, his tone calm but firm. “Elloren, give me the brush.”

Jaw clenched, my hand trembling with indecision, I lower the brush a fraction.

Lukas loses his easy expression, strides over to me, takes the brush in hand, then opens the woodstove’s glass door and throws it into the fire, flames rearing as the brush ignites. Then he moves to the windows and tugs the curtains shut.

He turns and closes in on me, his voice a determined whisper. “You need to tell meeverything.”

My outrage hardens. “Was anything you just said to your father true?”

Lukas’s face tenses with concern. “No. Except the part about Vogel insisting on a formal Sealing.”

My thoughts cyclone as I glare up at him. “I want to be able to trust you.”

He loosens a breath, his gaze steady on mine. “Elloren,” he calmly but firmly says, “I can’t lie to you. You know that. Just like you can’t lie to me.” His lips quirk into a jaded half smile. “Believe me, I’ve tried.”

I turn this over in my harrowed mind. He’s right. If anything, our Dryad pull to honesty seems to be getting stronger.

The corner of Lukas’s mouth lifts further. “Go ahead. Try it,” he prods. “Try lying to me. Tell me...” He pauses, his gaze turning inward as if he’s searching for a suitable lie. He levels his eyes back on mine, his smile playing at the edges of his mouth. “Tell me that you don’t find me attractive.”

I gape at Lukas, deeply put off by humor at such a time. I square my shoulders and narrow a glare at him. “I don’t find...” The words cinch in like a wall closing in around my throat. Like choking without the loss of air. I struggle to push the false words out, to fling them at him, but they stay caught. I force out a growl of frustration instead.

Lukas’s feral grin widens. “I wouldn’t be able to say it either.”

“I find youinfuriating!” I spit out. “There, that’s easy to say.” I pull back from him, my emotions a tumult as I shoot him a potent glare. “Chi Nam is myfriend.I don’t want you to kill her even if you’re ordered to.She was kind to me when no one else was.”

---