Page 149 of Deadwood
She got to her feet, no longer unsteady as she did. “I didn’t.”
“But you could have!” My voice boomed through the room, and I hated how it rose. Hated the things she brought out in me.
“I’m not made of glass!” she shot back.
I froze with only her in my vision. Is that what she thought? That she’d shatter under the wrong circumstances? She’d already overcome more than many could say in their lifetime, and she’d only gotten to live hers for a few weeks.
If Auria Tenere was anything, it was steel.
My hands fisted at my sides as I shoved my magic back down, erasing it from my veins. “You won’t break that easy, Princess.”
Her stiff shoulders eased the slightest, the smallest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, and I thought maybe she believed me. Or maybe, she was starting to believe in herself.
“No, I won’t.”
And I knew now that she did.
CHAPTER 47
BOWEN
The night air did nothing to ease the stiffness of my muscles as I walked to the meadow clearing behind Deadwood. Auria was inside the house asleep while Flynt kept watch at the door like I instructed, but even without the command, he would’ve done it willingly. He was worried about her, too.
I needed to burn something, to swallow the flame and let my power surge like it demanded. Auria had almost fucking died, and I couldn’t get the image of her, bloodied and torn open, out of my mind. Couldn’t get her pained screams to stop echoing through my ears whenever silence filled them.
And her scars…
Pain was no stranger to her, and I wanted nothing more than to tear everything down that could harm her. Thathadharmed her. To obliterate her father, whoever put those scars on her, Lander, and most of all, Paxon. I didn’t know what his motive was, but I had to believe that Auria was strong enough not to let him get to her.
Anytime he was near, my power would hum, snaking its way through my veins and itching underneath my skin to find his lungs and choke him where he stood. He was human, and yet, my fae side went on full alert when he was near, telling me something else was at play, and he was in control of it.
If I had half a mind, I’d dig his grave tonight.
As soon as I reached the other side of the clearing, I palmed the fire vial in my pocket, and the tree in front of me burst into flames. The wild streams of orange and yellow flickered as it licked its way up the bark to the drying leaves. My magic thrummed as it pulsed through me, etching my arms and every other part of my body with blackened ribbons as it called to the smoke elicited by the fire. The two joined midair, dancing together as if in harmony, then attacked the flames as if in battle, snuffing it out in seconds.
“I see your control has slipped,” Vulcan said from behind me, judgment clear in his tone. I hadn’t heard him land, hadn’t felt the ground shake while I was too distracted with thoughts of Auria.
With my back to him, smoke curled around me before darting his way. Heat blasted my skin through my leathers, and I turned in time to see his gold fire fizzling out between us.
“Do not threaten me, King,” he growled.
I shrugged, shoving my hands in my pockets. “It just wanted to play.”
A burst of wind shoved my hair back as Glacies landed between Vulcan and me. Immediately, her yellowed teeth were in my face, spit flying every which way as she bellowed a low, violent growl.
She kept her lips curled as she demanded, “Where is the burned one.”
I stood my ground. “Not sure who you’re referring to.”
Her throat vibrated as another growl emanated from her. I was tired of the fucking nickname. Auria was not only known for her pain or her past—she was more than just a sum of all the bad things that had happened to her.
“The girl is hurt, and you are standing out here like a child unable to control himself,” Glacies spit. In the moonlight, her white scales reflected an almost silvery blue, the sight nearly blinding to the eye.
My eyes narrowed on her. “I’m the reason she’s alive.”
Behind Glacies, Vulcan muttered, “As if I didn’t help.”
“Have you forgotten I can smell every ounce of her pain, King?” Glacies asked, her tone malignant.
