His fingertips teased me, finding my sensitive, swollen clit and it took all my power to stay upright. “Is this what you want, solwyn?”
“Yes,” I moaned. “More.”
“More, Rykr. I need …”
I couldn’t finish as his hand pushed deeper between my legs, two fingers sliding against the slickness there and pushing deep inside me. “Rykr?—”
A strangled cry left my lips, pleasure crashing over me in waves. My knees nearly gave out as I ground back against his hard length, a promise of more to come. “Fuck, yes.”
“You’re so fucking tight.” His fingers slid back, making slow circles that sent the room spinning, every nerve on fire, longing for not just this, but all of him.
A sudden chill seeped into my palms, sharp and biting. My breath caught as the stone beneath my hands shimmered, frost spreading like cracks in glass. I jerked back, my chest heaving, and stared in horror at the ice now encasing the wall.
Rykr lifted his head, the heat of his breath still on my skin.
I covered my breasts and whirled to face him, hoping I wouldn’t find the horrified look on his face. But there it was, unmistakable.
“Seren.” His voice was low, rough. “Does that happen often?” His gaze flicked to the ice, then back to me, the worry in his eyes sharp enough to cut.
“Freezing things accidentally or during sex?” I swallowed hard. “No, never.”
“And if you had been touching me?”
I stared at the whorls of ice along the seams of the wall.
If my hands had been on him instead of the wall …
The thought tore through me, leaving a hollow ache in its wake. The ice could have spread to his skin, to his heart. I could have killed him without even realizing it.
The tingle in my hands this morning.
I didn’t answer his question, dread replacing every bit of lust that had been tearing through me. I snatched my clothes from the floorboards, my cheeks heating as I turned from him to pull them back on. “Something’s wrong with my powers, Rykr,” I whispered, a slight tremble to my voice.
“What do you mean?” Rykr came up beside me, his handsome face dark with worry.
“The spell failing earlier. My inability to control my ice. That’s never happened to me before. My mother taught me how to control the ice when it manifested, and I’ve done it without a problem since I was a child.”
Something flickered in his face, unreadable. “You think it has something to do with Emberstone?”
I trembled. “My powers have always worked fine here. The only thing that’s changed …”
The bond.
It had changed everything. I held his gaze, the bond thrumming between us, a pulse of warmth and unease. The soft press of the seam of his lips into a line told me he’d heard me.
“What can we do, Seren?” Rykr said gently, coming up beside me. He reached for my hand, but I snatched it away, afraid of what I might do. Of what I could have done.
“Let’s go to the temple. We need answers. Now.”
I was tired.
Exhausted.
And as Rykr stepped closer, his face shadowed with concern, I wasn’t sure which frightened me more—losing control again or the fear I’d seen in his eyes.
Fear of me.
Chapter 32
