“Years?” I repeated.
“Mmm,” he hummed, the response noncommittal. Just like everything else.
“Why am I here?” I repeated.
“Why do you think you’re here?” he countered.
My grip around the sheet tightened against my chest. “We’re mates.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“How?”
He arched a white brow. “Surely you’re familiar with how the mating process works by now? I mean, you did recently bond a Warrior Blood, yes? And Shade?”
“Are you always this insufferable?”Answering every question with a question. Pixie sticks, we will never get anywhere at this rate!“I think I liked you more when I thought you were a figment.”
“That’s because you enjoyed my tongue between your thighs, Aflora.” He tilted his head. “Would an orgasm calm you down?”
A growl slipped through my lips. “Where are my clothes?” Because I couldn’t continue having this conversation while naked in his bed.
He nodded to a silk robe twisted into the sheets. “You can wear that.”
“Yeah, I’ll take my clothes instead.” I couldn’t remember if I’d worn them here or if I’d lost them in the LethaForest. I really hoped it was the latter because the former would imply that he’d stripped me. And I really didn’t want to think about that right now.
Sure, he was a pale-skinned, godlike fae.
And apparently my mate.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to be naked with him.
Even if he did have a wicked tongue and skilled hands.
I cleared my throat. “Clothes.”
“No,” he replied. “You’re lucky I gave you a robe, Aflora. Don’t push it.”
“Excuse me?” My eyebrows flew upward. “So let me get this straight. You dream-raped me, then?—”
“Dream-raped you?” he repeated, his expression rivaling mine as he released a disbelieving laugh. “Youcommandedme, sweetheart. Not the other way around. I came to you to talk, butyou told me not to say anything and to fuck you with my mouth instead. As your mate, I obliged. I would hardly call that rape.”
“I thought you were a figment of my imagination!”
“And I told you more than once to consider that I was real,” he countered. “We can argue about this all day, or you can accept what happened and we can move on to the reconciliation phase. Your choice.”
“How can I accept anything when you won’t even tell me why I’m here?!” I couldn’t hold back my shrill tone, my patience long gone. “How are you even real? How are you my mate? Stop talking in riddles and give me something useful!”
“How about you stop asking ridiculous questions and look inside your mind for the answers that already exist,” he suggested flatly.
My mind? He wanted me to go into my mind for answers? Yeah, all right. I’d go into my mind.
The cerulean embers flared inside me, my magic humming to life in anticipation. I’d spent the last however many months trying to drown the power, to temper and control it, but I called it forward now.
Come play, I urged, closing my eyes as the strands whirled inside my thoughts, flickering with electricity and sizzling in the air around us.
Zakkai said something.
I ignored him.
