Page 103 of The Silversmith

My lips parted as the blood in my veins rushed downward to feed the pulsing need ravishing my core.

“I—”

“Do. You. Understand?” he snarled, his fingers gently flexing on my throat.

I gasped and nodded.

“Good girl,” he hissed.

“What if that doesn’t happen with Elias?” I breathed.

“Then he isn’t fucking doing it right.” He tore his hand from my throat, leaving it bereft of his touch.

“And you know how…” I gulped down the urge to offer myself up to him and added breathily, “to do it right?”

His knuckles cracked at his side a few times. Each time, his fingers threatened to graze my hips. “Aryella.” He savored each syllable of my name. “I need you to go inside our room and deadbolt the door.”

“I…” My brain had to remind my knees to straighten and keep me standing. Every part of me was weak and willing for him, though I tried to feign defiance. “I don’t want to.”

“You are playing a very dangerous game, Ella.” His eyes darkened. “Do. It. Now.” Clenched teeth. Ravenous eyes. The lustful tendrils of his intense hunger for me, begging to drag me under. My stomach stuttered and dropped at the animalistic mass of man before me.

I took a careful step back from him and almost tripped over myself. One more second of his craving gaze on me, and I knew I was pushing my luck.

His lips curled into a menacing snarl. “Run.”

I gulped down a stroke of exhilarating fear and obeyed. I turned and ran like I was seconds away from my final breath at the hands of a starving beast.

Perhaps I was about to take my final breath of this life. Or at least life as I knew it.

The door slammed between us too quickly for me to see if he followed, but if the instinctual flight response flooding my core was any indication, he may have been chasing me. Panting, I thrust down the deadbolt with the urgency of desperate, adrenaline-fueled prey.

Because at that moment, my guardian became a predator.

Gavin Smyth was on the other side of that door, where I knew he would stay to ward off any and all danger, including himself. He would not touch me, and he would destroy anyone who tried.

He was my greatest threat. He was my protector.

He was both in one body, one soul.

I had never been so torn. Confused. Needy.

And I’d never wanted anything more.

***

I sat in the bath for an hour with my knees tucked into my chest. Last night, I’d taken a bath after he denied me that kiss, but I’d decided to take another one—a lukewarm one that was now growing cold. If only to quell my frustration.

And to cool… the rest of me.

The tips of my silver-blonde hair were wet down my back and over my shoulders. I watched my fingers drift from one side of the cast-iron tub to the other and, every few minutes, tried to summon the power of Rainar and move the water without touching it. Nothing happened. Just as the healing power of Viridian had disappeared after one use, there was no sign of Rainar this morning.

How was I supposed to fight Molochai when I could only summon the powers on impulse, not demand? When I could reach for my wheel of power but had no control over retrieving it? And when I’d only wielded the power of two gods when I was supposed to wield twelve?

I knew the answer, though it irked me to admit it. And I could only thank the gods and Simeon for giving me more time before being sent to those caves to figure it out. I’d tasted a sample of my powers, but mastering each one? Finding control? The ancient sorcerer himself would have to teach me.

I would be stuck until I worked with someone that knew magic. Wielding mystical power was the one thing Gavin didn’t know. It had to be Simeon, and Brinnea was only one day away.

I slid farther into the basin and sighed. Then, I tried and failed to reach for blue on my wheel. Tried and failed to craft simple shapes out of water for another twenty minutes, until it chilled to an intolerable cold.