AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I gritted my teeth, repressing a curse. I didn’t want fruit and cheese. I didn’t even want to be in this cursed garden. I wanted to be with Nikkos.
Ember pouted. “Okay.”
I have no idea why I let Draevyn lead me to the blanket. Maybe I was running from his familiar touch as his hand rested on the small of my back. I swore I could feel the burn from the flames in his blood.
“Are you comfortable?” he asked as I sat down on the blanket.
I turned up my nose, watching the girls while refusing to look at him. “I’m fine, thanks.”
He sat much too close to me, his wingtips tickling my arm. “You were magnificent yesterday.”
I pulled my arm into my lap, angling away from him. “I did what needed to be done.”
“You disabled an army of giants,” he said, a note of awe in his voice. “I’ve never seen a witch with your powers.”
I snorted at that. “Wait until you meet my sister.”
He leaned back on his palms, his magnificent wings spread behind him like black sails. “You’re more powerful than her.”
I glared at him. Did he truly think I’d be moved by false flattery? “She’s a white witch.”
He visibly swallowed, the look of adoration in his eyes making my skin prickle with unease. “Shirina, when you disabled the giants, I saw white magic encircling them.”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. He had to be lying. “I’m not a white witch.”
“I think you are. I heard you in my head.”
I blinked at him. “What?”
“Your siren voice.” He sat up and tapped the side of his head. “It projected into my head, even after I covered my ears. We are familiar with some of the trolls that inhabit the border. The bigger one with the misshapen head, he’s deaf. All the trolls fell to their knees when you commanded them, including the deaf troll.”
“He could’ve been following the others,” I protested, though my voice lacked inflection. What if Draevyn was right? I remembered the troll with the misshapen head and the look of agony on his face as he shielded his ears.
“He was crying out and covering his ears.” He leaned toward me, the intensity in his eyes nearly stealing the breath from my lungs. “You projected your voice into his mind. Shirina, your mouth wasn’t moving, but I still heard you.”
I clutched my throat. “It wasn’t moving?”
“You don’t remember?”
“No. I was overcome by my magic.” Fear rang in my words. “What if Tari wasn’t meant to kill Malvolia? What if it’s me?”
His features hardened, and I feared I’d given Draevyn a reason to kill me.
“You aren’t,” he answered, a brittle edge to his words.
“How do you know?” Or was he simply in denial?
He leaned closer to me, so close my heart began to pound wildly, drowning out all other sounds. I was mesmerized by the warmth radiating off him and the tenderness in his eyes as he gently cupped my chin. “You wouldn’t do anything to hurt your mates, just like we won’t kill your parents...or your sister.”
I swallowed back a knot that had formed in my throat. “Thank you.” Why was I thanking him for not killing my sister, an innocent mother who was being controlled like a puppet on a string by others in power? And how could I so easily fall under his mesmerizing spell after all he’d done?
“You don’t need to thank me. You’re my fated mate, and I’m sorry for my behavior.” My lashes involuntarily fluttered when he dragged his knuckles down the side of my face. I couldn’t deny his touch felt nice, and for a moment, I pretended he wasn’t Draevyn, but Nikkos, awake and well and ready to stand by my side, even with the threat of his queen looming over us.
And when I felt his heat encompass me, his wings gently wrap around my shoulders, my eyes flew open, and I stared into his eyes, swirling with desire as his lips hovered dangerously close to mine. I shoved away from him and jumped to my feet with surprising alacrity.
“What behavior?” I asked while pacing the grass beside the blanket. “Your cruelty toward me after I stopped you from killing my parents?” I leveled him with an accusatory glare. “Maybe when you threatened to drop me? When you called me a liar? Or when you abandoned us in a forest infested with giants?”
He stumbled to his feet, his wings drooping behind him. “All of it.”
