“I could kill you,” I stalled.
“Could,” he lifted a casual shoulder. “But won’t. I’d like to know that you can, in case someone else surprises you.”
“Fine,” I shot through my teeth, marching to close the distance between us. I was as adept at mapping water as I was calling to it, which was to say my skill in seeking water I couldn't see was equally deficient. My arms stretched to release the first few buttons of his shirt, pulling the hem aside to reveal the firm lines of his chest. Cebrinne could probably map a moon-damned heart just by looking at a man. I required a more tangible target.
In my periphery, he raised a single brow, but I was determined to avoid his eyes. Heat invaded my blood at the touch of his skin. I gave my head a small, confident shake, suddenly unable to think properly while hair rested in my eyes. My neck lengthened as I tapped impatiently down his sternum, searching for the source of the soft heartbeat before me.
“Like what you feel?”
“No.”
He smirked. “Once you start, don’t stop.”
My eyes shifted up to meet his.
“I’ll eclipse you if it becomes too much.”
My fingers flexed against warm skin. “What if you can’t?”
His crooked smile grew. “It’s a test for us both, then.”
I closed my eyes, feeling through the boundaries of his chest, searching the whoosh of ventricles within. He breathed under my hand, the gentle rise and fall of his air somehow grounding against my palm. Liquid tunnels opened slowly to my touch, the rush and pump of steady valves opening and closing. I followed the pattern of it, rhythmic and strong and soothing, a tune for my head to follow.
“Ready?” I murmured. My eyes remained closed, though I sensed his patient stare as he watched me.
“Ready,” he answered just as softly.
I pressed in.
Into the core of him, the place where vessels mated with oxygen, where everything contracted and released in a single beat of muscle. And latchedon. Tissue swelled under my fingertips, circulation slowing as my block grew.
Pheolix’s breath caught. He staggered a small step away, but before I could release him, he clapped a hand over mine, holding me in place.
I pushed harder. His fingers tightened over mine, though I wasn’t sure if he did it to steady my grasp or his own. He drew a long, rattled pull of air. Then sank backwards.
His heart flagged. I squeezed my eyelids tight, top teeth cutting into my lower lip as I followed him to the floor. A heavy thump announced the drone’s fall, but I climbed over his legs, unwilling to lose the connection.
My breath fogged. Ice warped the air, mist evaporating into frost. A breath choked, guttering and raw, the same cough a drowning man might force from his lungs. Pheolix’s palm patted mine, and I whipped my hand away, yanking my eyes open.
He lay unmoving on his back, eyes wide and skin pallid, a thin coat of dew across his forehead. Blue tinged his lips, and a sudden strike of fear bolted through my chest. “Pheolix?” I blurted, searching for a pulse. “Say something.”
His lips moved, but no sound came.
“What?” I leaned forward to hear him.
“If you feel guilty, you can kiss me.”
I snarled my disgust, pulling away to glare at him. “You’re foul.”
Pheolix flashed his teeth. “You’re enchanting.”
He’d landed partially against the eastern wall, and I grasped him by the collar of his shirt, guiding him upright to lean against the glass. He massaged his heart vaguely with his fingers.
His opposite arm curled around my back. The motion was so commonplace, the pressure of his palm and fingers so natural, that I almost didn’t notice. But I did, realizing I sat in his lap, straddling his legs.
Blue-mouthed, pale-skinned, he winked.
A small fire lit in my belly, but my groan of annoyance only widened his smile as I rolled off him. The room around me glittered. Crystals sparkled over the windows, fractals blooming from the corners like frosted explosions frozen in time. Small icicles hung from leaves. A smooth glaze covered the floor, and when I flexed my fingers, they moved slowly, joints hindered by the cold.
