Page 84 of Elven Crown

Anonymity and privacy were luxuries that had now become completely inaccessible to her, and the rest of Shade wanted tothankher for it.

It made no sense.

The celebration continued before Rebecca even got that drink into her hands. Though when it finally came her way, she was surprised to find Maxwell was the one bringing it to her.

He stopped in front of her with her filled cup in his outstretched hand, holding it as if he thought it might attack him.

“What is it?” Rebecca asked, eyeing the cup.

“Something Bor cooked up on his own.” Maxwell gave the cup a tentative sniff. “Or so I’m told.

“And it’s supposed to be safe? I seeyouhaven’t tested it yet.”

“You must have missed it, then.” Maxwell removed his other hand from behind his back to reveal a second disposable cup. Then he extended Rebecca’s drink closer toward her with an odd smile. “At the very least, I can confirm it won’t kill you.”

Rebecca let out a wry laugh. “Very reassuring.”

He nodded, then paused when Rebecca finally took her drink. “Congratulations, Thon-Da’al.”

If she’d already taken her first sip, she would have choked on it.

Did he just congratulate her?

Trying not to look too confused by it, Rebecca returned the odd smile and reached for her drink. Her fingers brushed against his when she wrapped them around the cup, as they probably would have with anyone else.

But with the shifter, that contact between their fingers ignited another fiery spark of the same intensifying energy Rebecca recognized only too well. The warm tingle. The unignorable pull. The rightness of something about Maxwell Hannigan she had yet to define.

With the familiar sensation came an unfamiliar and entirely new flare of different energy—a dark need rising inside her like nothing ever had before, its power compelling her toward Maxwell from the inside out with far more strength than anything else she’d felt around him.

So forceful, in fact, that as she froze and accepted the drink from him, daring to look down at their shared grasp on theplastic cup where their fingers touched, Rebecca saw something new and vastly different.

A shower of silver sparks burst into existence at the contact of Maxwell’s fingers and hers—dark silver and lighter streaks, like her Bloodshadow magic erupting on its own but not quite like it at the same time.

Like the silvery flare of Maxwell’s inherent magic but also not quite.

More than ever, it felt like she’d stuck her fingers in a wall socket.

The second those sparks faded, she looked up at Maxwell, wondering if he’d seen them too and hoping he hadn’t. Hoping he wouldn’t have one more thing to question her about after everything they’d already achieved.

Hope did nothing for her.

Maxwell had already noticed, and he froze just like she did at the magic flaring beneath their touch. His eyes widened, and he looked up at her almost in fear, as if she had any idea what this was.

No way in hell could he ever deny having noticed or felt the same thing Rebecca did just by being around him. He couldn’t deny this, either.

Even if he tried, there was definitely something here.

The look he gave her next, however, momentarily eliminated her ability to rationalize how to handle this. Part of his expression steeped in disapproval, like he blamed her for these physical reactions between them. Like he believed she could make them stop on her own.

But it wasn’t just disapproval. There was something else there. A dark, hidden hunger she’d never seen before now flaring behind his eyes.

Hunger for what?

She had no clue. It couldn’t possibly have been forher, could it?

Then again, Maxwell had given her no indication that itwasn’ther. He also hadn’t made it clearer that any feelings he might have had for her extended beyond her status as Shade’s commander and his duty as their Head of Security.

Whatever this was, though, the shifter absolutely knew it was there.

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