Page 61 of Happily Ever Crowned (Underworld Royals 1)

And I did.

Until a ball of blue angelfire curled around her wrist, crawling up her arm.

I took several steps back, the energy hypnotic in its lethality. One touch and she’d incinerate me.

“Valora,” I whispered.

She didn’t reply, the power swimming in vines across her skin and singeing the fabric covering her torso, then her legs.

I swallowed. You’re glowing violet, I warned.

“I’m okay,” she replied, gritting her teeth.

I remained absolutely still. Tell me what you need.

You, she whispered. Talk.

“You look beautiful.” I spoke softly, understanding that she wanted my words now. Not those of Necros. “This is your destiny, Valora. To be a true queen, one of the most powerful and revered in the Underworld. And you wear it well.” I went to my knees, placing myself in an inferior position. “Open your eyes. See where you are, remember who you are, and observe the glory you’ve created.”

Because she was truly magnificent, radiating an energy so pure I nearly wept looking at her.

And what’s more, she controlled it.

Even in a library filled with books—a location I now regretted choosing for this sort of training—she managed to contain the inferno to her skin alone.

Of course, the clothes she wore were gone. Something I would have liked a hell of a lot more without all the flames. Still, this was the goal. And she’d finally started to achieve it.

Her irises glowed with liquid blue fire as she finally looked at me, a note of concentration in their depths. “Adrik…”

“I’m here, sweet star.” Little bird no longer seemed like an adequate name. Valora’s clipped wings kept her from flying, but the light inside her rivaled the galaxies above. “How do you feel?”

“Powerful,” she marveled, looking at her arms and rolling the rope of bluish-purple flames across her skin. She smiled. “I can’t wield it yet, but it’s responding to my desire to stay close. To not harm you.”

A good sign that she was starting to truly trust me, which meant I was one step closer in my plan for her heart. I swallowed as my own ached at the thought. But I shoved the emotion away and focused on her. She needed help to come down from the high; I could see it in the power radiating from her eyes.

“Can you harness it?” I phrased it as a curious question, not a demand. “Or does it feel too good to be free?”

“Necros won’t touch me in this form,” she said, almost to herself. “No one would.”

“You’d incinerate anyone who came too close,” I agreed. “It’s why I’m over here.”

She frowned, glancing up at me. “I would never hurt you.”

“Not on purpose, no.” Yet I had every intention of harming her. How was that fair? And why did that suddenly feel like the worst idea in the world?

Fuck, Grigory was going to slaughter me.

Not only had I missed one of our meetings—something that resulted in a disgruntled call—but I almost regretted what I had to do.

“Adrik?” She took a step forward. “Are you all right?”

I flinched a little at the singeing heat radiating from her form. “Just getting a little warm,” I joked, my damp skin a testament to the truth. “I’m going to need an ice bath after this.”

Her lips curled. “A bath? Can I join you?”

“I thought you didn’t want to fuck tonight?” I teased, happy to see her flames going down a little as we spoke. If she noticed, she didn’t comment.

“Maybe I’ve changed my mind.”

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