Page 103 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

“I have some ideas about that,” Rhaela says, and Izzy perks up immediately. I catch Harai biting back a smile.

“Tomorrow,” Izzy suggests. “I’ve had enough for tonight.”

“I like that plan,” I say instantly.

The firelord twins give each other a long look, communicating something without words, though I can’t tell what.

Izzy’s anxious gaze shifts to Rhaela, and something in my chest tightens. Getting close to the firelord twins could help us later, but I hate seeing her vulnerable to potential heartbreak.

Finally, Rhaela speaks. “We agree. Tomorrow. We’ll try again then.”

I heave a sigh of relief.

My throat still feels raw, tender from that primal scream that somehow shattered the darkness. My fingers drift up to touch my neck, and I swallow hard.

I need to tell Ivrael.

The thought comes unbidden, urgent, like an itch I can’t scratch. Which makes no sense—why should I tell him anything? He’s the one who threw us into this nightmare in the first place. And yet...

My body seems to vibrate with the need to find him, to describe how the ice splintered, how the darkness cracked and fell away like sheets of black glass. How my scream echoed and built until it became something else entirely.

Something powerful.

Stop it, I order myself, digging my nails into my palms.He’s not your confidant. He’s your captor. Your enemy.

Then why did his voice in the maze affect me so deeply?

Why does his touch always break down all my defenses?

Heat floods my cheeks at the memory, and I turn away before Izzy can see my reaction.

But my sister is focused entirely on Rhaela, their heads bent close together as they discuss plans for tomorrow. The sight sends another pang through my chest—sharp, bittersweet. I want her to be happy, but damn, the timing couldn’t be worse.

My attention drifts back to the maze, to that moment when everything changed.

The ice responded to me. To my voice, my anger, my power.

His ice responded to me.

Suddenly I can’t breathe. Because if Ivrael’s ice maze responded to me, what does that mean? What am I becoming?

The compulsion to find him, to demand answers, wells up stronger than ever. My feet actually shift toward the manor before I catch myself.

No. Whatever this is—this pull toward him, this strange new power—I need to keep it to myself. At least until I understand it better.

But as we head back toward Starfrost Manor, my skin prickles with awareness. Like the ice itself is watching. Waiting.

Like it knows something I don’t.

When we move inside, I find myself telling Izzy I’ll meet her in our rooms later—that I’m going to tell Kila and Adefina good night.

Instead, despite all the reasons I tell myself not to go to him, as soon as my sister is out of sight, I move toward Ivrael’s study.

CHAPTER 27

IVRAEL

Lord Vazor’s scales catch the light from my study’s Caixlights as he leans forward, the golden pattern flickering.

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