Page 91 of Kiss of Fire

Shade was gone from her side when she woke up. Raya stretched languidly, still loose-limbed and relaxed from the night before. Her pulse quickened as she remembered what Shade had done to her. His kisses. His tongue.

He’d called it a job, she reminded herself. He hadn’t wanted her to embarrass him by acting like a bitch in heat so he’d taken care of her problem. Don’t read anything into it.

She rolled from the bed and went to study herself in the mirror. Her lips were a little swollen but other than that, she looked the same as ever. Plain. Unremarkable.

He called you beautiful. And he’d said he’d enjoyed it.

She rejected the quiet little voice trying to persuade her that last night’s events were anything more than a duty to him. Shade’s only desire was to be emperor. Once the Vulcani were allied to him, he wouldn’t need her anymore.

The sooner she completed her task and left, the better.

She bathed and dressed, then went downstairs to get breakfast. She was starving. Pasha served her up some eggs and a thick salty meat that was a ringer for gammon, though she couldn’t recall seeing any pigs in Nush’aldaam.

She thought about going to look for Tor but she was too mortified by what had happened with the ambrosia berries. She was pretty sure she’d come on to him.

She wondered who the woman was who’d given her the berries. Had she done it maliciously? Or was it an innocent mistake? She’d probably never know.

Anyway, she had work to do. She went to the night-garden where she could practice uninterrupted.

Her flames now came at the drop of a hat. She could make them erupt from her fingers or the palm of her hand. She could make them ripple up her arms to her shoulders with just a thought. With a bit of focus, she could engulf her face and torso in flames, which tickled.

She’d worried her eyebrows or hair might burn the first time she did it. But she was as impervious to fire as Shade was.

Strange that they had that in common.

She practised making flame birds and butterflies. They fluttered round the night-garden under her control, and she took care this time not to let them get close to anything flammable. The memory of the burning tree was still fresh.

Shade hadn’t seen her power yet. Didn’t he want to check up on her progress? Surely he didn’t want to wait till the Vulcani arrived to see what she could do?

She resolved to show Shade her progress as soon as she saw him. But he didn’t return for the next two days. She drifted round the castle, paranoia nibbling at her.

Shade couldn’t bear to be near her.

She annoyed him. Disgusted him.

He’d gone to drown his sorrows in Leona’s arms.

He couldn’t wait to get rid of her.

The thoughts went round and round in her head. She tried to find solace in the Library but she couldn’t concentrate on a single book, not even Hemingway.

In the end she swallowed her pride and went to find Tor.

She still hadn’t spoken to him since the Melae. Knowing he was fully aware of how aroused she’d been as he dragged her back to the castle made her want to die of embarrassment.

But she couldn’t avoid him forever. Anyway, he was a gentleman. He wouldn’t mention it if she didn’t.

She found him feeding the horses in the stables. He listened patiently as she griped about Shade’s absence.

“I know he’s not exactly a homebody,” she said. “But with the Vulcani arriving tomorrow you’d think he’d be around.”

“It means he trusts you.”

“He hasn’t even seen what I can do. I wanted to show him.”

“It sounds like you miss him.”

“Miss him? I don’t miss him. He’s always stamping around and shouting.”

---