Page 99 of A City of Smoke and Demons
Lira looked up, eyes wide. ‘It’s gone,’ she breathed.
Analise didn’t close her eyes this time, going straight for his heart, releasing her hold on his life. She threw her magic into the frozen muscle, trying to shock it back into existence, imagining the flicker of an arcing lamp. She imagined the spark that dazzled the eyes the moment a flame caught, the warmth of summer sunshine that bathed the garden in the convent.
Nothing happened.
‘Come on,’ she whispered, pushing into his heart again. Nothing. ‘Don’t you dare,’ she said. ‘Don’t you dare, Ezra.’ She shocked him again, harder this time, then again. His hands werelimp, his chest unmoving. Frantic, Analise threw all she had into his body, charging every part of him, feeling her own heart start to fracture around the edges.
She couldn’t lose him, not now.
‘Please,’ she begged. ‘Please don’t do this to me.’
Ezra jolted.
Blood dripped from Analise’s nose and her cheeks were wet with tears, but she did it again, lighting up his insides with her magic.
Again.
Jem’s voice. ‘Analise …’
She gave Ezra one last shock, before bursting into tears and collapsing onto his lap. She couldn’t keep going—her head was spinning, her body was cold, fingertips numb, but she needed to try again. She had to try again. The only sound in the room was her broken sobs, until, soft and rough, ‘Can someone untie me?’
Analise’s head shot up.
Ezra’s eyes were open. He managed a weak smile as Jem, hands shaking, undid the leather straps. ‘I take it I’m not dead?’ he whispered. She climbed onto his lap and kissed him, not caring that everyone would see, not caring that she was bleeding. Ezra’s breath was unsteady as she rested her forehead against his. ‘Is that the sort of welcome back you’re going to give others? Because I’m not sure I like that idea,’ he murmured.
‘Only you,’ Analise managed. ‘Only you.’
Charles insisted on checking Ezra’s vital signs. Analise didn’t let go of his hand through the examination and once he was given the all clear, she took him back to his room, insisting he rested. She closed the door and went to the kitchen for a jug of water. Her heart was racing, her fingers tingling with residual magic, with the life she stole from him and returned.
Analise hurried back upstairs. She didn’t want to stay away for too long. She wanted to look at him, this miracle she’dcreated, amazed that it had worked—terrified it had worked. This meant Blackwood’s book was right, and if she could do this, what else might she be able to do?
Ezra wasn’t in bed, but standing at the window, staring out at the world.
‘You should be resting,’ Analise scolded gently, setting the jug and glass on the table. ‘You just died, Ezra.’
‘I feel amazing.’ He turned from the window. ‘Utterly amazing. Like I could run for miles or swim across the ocean. I’m like one of Charles’ batteries, but overcharged or something.’ He grinned, then ran his hand over his face. ‘You brought me back from the dead not long ago. If anyone should be in bed, it’s probably you.’
Analise drifted over to him. ‘Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could.’ The heat from his body and that spark between them, whatever it was, whatever it meant, surged through her blood, settling in her stomach, where it smouldered and then blazed.
Ezra’s fingers brushed her cheek and she leant her face into the searing heat of his palm, thelifeshe could feel there—the blood moving beneath his skin, the furious rhythm of his pulse and the warmth, the beautiful, comforting warmth of him. His breath on her face was soft, gentle, and she wanted to sink into it, let the spark inside him consume her.
Analise breathed a sigh of relief when he rested his forehead against hers. Her eyes fluttered closed. The fingers on her cheek shifted to curl around her ear, then spread across the back of her neck. She tilted her face up and when his lips brushed her cheek, she turned her head to catch his mouth with hers. She couldn’t deny it any longer. His lips feltrightagainst hers. The heat of his flesh feltright, and when his arms closed around her, all Analise wanted to do was crawl beneath his skin.
Maybe it was what she’d done. Her magic had been inside him, moving through each part of him. She’d held the essence ofhis life inside her, and it was only now that she realised how truly intimate that was. He’d allowed her to strip him bare, trusted her enough to end his life in the hope she’d be able to give it back to him.
His breath was warm on her mouth as he exhaled.
‘You should be resting.’
‘I’m not tired.’
For a heartbeat, their eyes locked, and then his lips collided with hers.
Analise groaned and wound her arms around his neck, fingers sliding into his hair. Ezra kissed her until she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see or speak at all. She was nothing but heat and feeling, the fire raging under her skin consuming her. His chest was heaving, his heartbeat so strong, so furious, she could feel it pounding against her breast.
Ezra freed the buttons on her trousers before he slipped his hand inside, fingers pressed against the burning between her legs. Analise’s knees weakened as he sank his teeth into her throat. His fingers filled her, then withdrew, plunged in deep and withdrew again, that steady rhythm setting sparks dancing behind her lids.
This would be different. This time, they weren’t strangers in a pub on Blackcoln Road. They weren’t using each other to fuck away their tension, their pain. Analise wasn’t sure what they were anymore, but this time it would be more, and there would be no going back. Ezra stepped back, letting his gaze slide over her face, lower, carving a path over her breasts, the dip of her waist and the flare of her hips, before returning to rest on her face.
