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“Ah, there’s the little bird I know.” He scooped her up, walking back toward the palace as if none of this had just occurred. “We have much to discuss, and you need to get out of the cold.”
As the breeze drifted past her once more, it didn’t send a single chill through her. “I-I don’t feel cold.”
He halted, his gaze boring into hers as if he was trying to read something. “You don’t feel cold at all?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s as though there’s a warm blanket inside of me.”
His throat bobbed, and he set her on her bare feet in the snow, the coldness still not bothering her. “Nothing now?” he asked.
“No.” She took a deep swallow, studying her feet.
He held up his arm, lifting snow from the ground until a dagger of ice formed in his palm. “Let me see your hand. It will only be a prick.”
Eirah’s eyes widened, and she took a step back, wondering if this was the moment.
“I’m not sacrificing you right now, and I know you don’t want to trust me, but trust this.” The hard edges of his face seemed to soften.
Eirah hesitated, observing his expression, believing his words—he looked as disturbed as she felt. She then nodded, stretching out her arm toward him. Morozko cradled her hand, his warm fingers brushing her flesh, and that pull came to her once more.
He pressed the blade’s tip into her finger, a sharp pain burning for only a second. She watched blood bloom to the surface, but also as her skin closed up. Fast. Too fast.Healed.
Her heart thudded while Morozko pursed his lips, releasing her hand. “It looks as though you’re not human… That you do, indeed, have magic.”
“Change me back to human,” she rasped.
The tingling sensation tore through her again, the feathers sprouting, and she shifted back into an owl.
“I’m unable to do that, little bird.” He lifted her from the snow, and a look of triumph washed over his features. “I think I’m getting closer to finding out what I need to, though.”
* * *
Over the next few days,Eirah was able to control her shifting for the most part, yet occasionally it would come at the most inopportune times, pulling a chuckle from Morozko. He would take her outside to practice flying, yet he didn’t seem worried that she would drift away from the castle.
Besides that, she was there to stay to protect her loved ones, and with how he could feel the magic pumping inside of her, he would know if she abandoned the castle. Just as she was starting to feelhim.
Morozko didn’t explain what he knew, as he should have, in her opinion. “Soon,” he would say. And “prick” was always her response.
Today, the magic had grown stronger, begging to be a part of him. His blood wouldn’t leave her—as if it owned her.
Eirah circled above him, ruffling his hair with her talons to irk him before landing in her human form. But she turned too soon, her feet stumbling in the snow, and she toppled forward, knocking the king to the ground.
“I knew you would get on top of me eventually.” He chuckled, his hands falling to her hips.
“If I had a blade, I would cut you with it,” she breathed, her comment half-hearted.
“By the way your heart is beating, I don’t think you would.” He rolled her onto her back, hovering above her. “How do you like being in this cage, little bird?”
Part of her still wanted to slice him open, while the other part wanted to discover what his shapely lips tasted like. As if he could read her thoughts, his nose skimmed up her throat, and her breath caught.
“You like this,” he whispered in her ear, his finger brushing across her lips.
“No,” she lied. And he knew it when her body naturally arched into his.
His warm mouth came to the tender spot just below her ear, followed by a flick of the tongue before he trailed his perfect lips along her jaw, making her eyelids flutter. Her hands drifted to his hips, pulling him closer, wanting him evennearer. As he settled between her thighs, he hardened against her, and she froze, rememberingwhatshe was doing,whoshe was with. And she hated herself for liking it too much, for acting like all the other maidens. She wouldn’t be. She would be. No, shewouldn’tbe.
She rolled from beneath him and pushed up from the ground, trying not to focus on how good his warm lips had felt on her skin or wonder how good they would feel in other places. “Have you decided when I’m to be sacrificed yet?”
“No.” He scowled, studying her hard. “Continue practicing your shifting.”
