“Do I make you nervous, Anna Ainslan?”
She thought about lying, but what was the point? He could feel it inside her. “Yes.”
“Why? Haven’t you proven that you could kick my ass if you needed to?”
No. She hadn’t bested him at all. He’dlether win.
She shook her head, thoughtful. “I don’t think I did.”
No barrier stood between them, and the urge to find protection stirred. She lifted off the table, narrowing the distance betweenthem. The green in his eyes glinted, and a bright warning sign flared to life in Anna’s mind. It reminded her to be careful, to remember what his magic could do, what his ancestor had done.
“What makes you say that?” he asked.
With slow steps—ones she hoped hid her anxiety—Anna wandered toward a nearby settee, placing it squarely between herself and the heir of Galadaine Manae. “There’s a difference betweencan’tandwon’t. You refused to fight me. That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t do it if you wanted.”
Blank expression in place, his eyes lowered toward the settee, then back to her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Ah.” She wagged one finger at him. “But the potential exists, doesn’t it? Do you even realize I didn’t have a choice following you here?”
The tightening at the corner of his mouth was the only indication she’d struck a nerve. The small portion of emotion she could access blossomed with glittering shards of melting ice. Intrigue warred with hesitation, and beside that battle existed a host of other vibrant emotions. Worry. Vulnerability. Deeper than that—insecurity and worthlessness. And that was only the portion she could feel.
The man certainly had layers, and he was trying to hide every single one of them.
Expressionless face. Casual posture. Frost covering every feeling inside him.
Why was he so guarded?
“I’m not forcing you to stay,” he said.
She maintained eye contact, sensing any show of weakness might make him pounce. “Yet here I am.”
A sudden crooked smile hid the threat inherent in his voice. “Why?”
Shrugging, she let her gaze travel to the shelves nearest her. “I have knowledge you want.”
And I want to know how this magic feels to you.
Do you overflowwith emotion?
Do you burn under the fire of others’ pain?
Do you agonize over snippets of a future not yet lived?
Do you feel like you don’t belong?
She should leave. Some intuition told her it was the smarter move, but she couldn’t make her feet walk away. The curiosity bordered on pain.
Anna was an anomaly. An oddity. An aberration. Her origins made no sense. Her magic was a mystery.
But this man…
He might understand. He might become a hiding place for her loneliness.
A heartbeat of silence passed before he let out a skeptical hum and turned to the closest shelf, studying the titles.
Anna allowed herself a moment to take him in. Gold shimmered over every facet, and the gold chain around his neck enhanced the elusive glow. Sylphs tended to keep to themselves. She’d seen only a few in the five years she’d lived here, and each of them possessed that same ethereal quality. An otherworldliness. Untouchable.
But he was different. Less fragile.
