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“I have to touch you to dance,” he said in a low voice.
“Touché, Your Majesty,” she sang, repeating his earlier word.
Rush chuckled as he slipped a hand around her waist and tugged her firmly against his chest. She released a silent gasp. Warmth from her body radiated into his and he dragged in a deep breath. “You need to touch me too. That’s how you dance,” he cooed.
She rolled her eyes and one of her hands wrapped around his shoulder. Rush gently pressed his fingers into her lower back, holding her close, and lifted their free hands together. Without music, there was no melody to dance to, so Rush simplymoved. And she followed. He led her through the ballroom with slow, lingering steps that forced their bodies together. Pulse thrumming, he sank into the feel of her. Let it warm him. The dragon purred in contentment as she studied Rush’s face with desire. He wanted her closer. Wanted to be inside her, pulling moans from her lips. Aura’s cheeks flushed as if she were reading his thoughts, and gave no indication of wanting space.
Around and around the room they went. Lost to the rhythm of their breaths. Rush’s heart pounded in his chest. Had he ever wanted a woman this badly? He’d been with many, but none had ever affected him like this. And she’d slept in his bed. Surrounded by his scent, leaving hers behind. If anyone else were in his private space like that, they wouldn’t make it out unscathed, but helikedher being there.
Rush wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She was meant for his revenge against Pax—not this. Not to seduce him or make himfeel. He’d closed his heart away after Sorcha’s death. Vowed to never care about another person again because it always brought pain. But… But he couldn’t fucking help himself.
And he didn’t have the strength to fight it at the moment.
Silence cocooned them. It felt as if they were in their own world where nothing else mattered. Nothing but the arousal burning inside him. His dragon preened, sensing her attraction to him, her desire.
On the fourth turn of the room, Rush couldn’t take it any longer and lifted her by the waist before sitting her atop the edge of the piano.
“Rush,” she murmured. Her cheeks were flushed, her breaths ragged.
“Yes?” he purred, slowly spreading her legs so he could settle between them. Her arms never left their spot around his neck. She leaned in closer, her violet eyes locked on his mouth. Rush’s lips ghosted over hers as he spoke, “What is it?”
“I want you to…” Her body stiffened in his grip and he drew back. The pink coloring her cheeks a moment ago had drained away, leaving her skin bone-white. Her hands slipped from around his neck to hang limply at her sides.
“Kitten?” Rush took her from the piano and cradled her against his chest. “Aura, what’s wrong?”
“I’m tired,” she whispered, her eyelids fluttering.
Then her soft body collapsed against him.
“Fuck,” he growled. The spell was absorbing her energy too fast—she’djustwoken. Was there a trigger he wasn’t aware of? Trying to leave the palace grounds, he knew, but she was well within the boundary. The fortune teller had told him the spell was working, but this wasn’t what he’d asked for. For her to be tortured.
He held her tighter and carried her back to his room. The beast inside him went silent and still. His dragon would have to get used to Aura being asleep once the spell was complete, but now, there was something quite unsettling … Rush was bothered by the idea too.
Rush stared at the spinning wheel in his laboratory. The rusting pieces, the dusty wood. The spell still wasn’t complete, and the spinning wheel remained untouchable. Damn the sorceress for hiding so effectively from him. If the magic continued to affect Aura this way, and if something happened to her….
“Are you making any progress?” he snapped at Astor over his shoulder.
Glass clinked against glass. Astor held a vial up to eye level and gently swirled the liquid until it turned blue. “It’s finished. I used a strand of her hair, so it should connect you to her dream, but you’ll be fully aware of what’s real. You can wake up whenever you choose.”
Rush threw the curtain back in place to shield the spinning wheel from sight and snatched the small vial from Astor’s outstretched hand.
“It works fast, so make sure you’re laying down before you drink it,” the hawk shifter warned. Astor had been into dreams before when he spied on people for Rush, so he trusted that it would work. Perhaps it was something he should’ve tried with her sooner, but he hadn’t expected the process to be so drawn out. Or for him towantto check on her…
Rush nodded once.
“Good luck,” Astor said.
As blood coursed through Rush’s veins, he stormed back through the palace to his room, sending servants fleeing from his path. A panicked scream echoed down the halls and Rush broke into a run while his dragon bolted upright. Aura had made noise in her sleep before, but never so loud. Never so panicked.
Bursting into the room, he found Aura covered in sweat atop his satin sheets. He tapped on her cheeks to wake her despite knowing that was impossible. Until the spell released her, she would sleep. “Fuck,” he growled. Sparing a moment to slam the door shut and lock it, he threw himself down beside her on the bed. Just as he lifted the potion to his lips, her screams halted.
A bitter taste crawled over his tongue as Astor’s concoction fizzled down his throat. There was little time to focus on it because the next moment, a flicker of darkness swept him away.
He now stood in the middle of his office. Or, notexactlyhis office. The room was the same, but the décor was different. Old. His father’s bulky desk still took up the entire center of the room, and the rug was a hideous yellow weave. The large stained-glass window held a black dragon with blue eyes. After his father passed, craftsmen had replaced the dragon’s eye color with silver, because it felt too much like the old king was watching Rush. Even now it was just the same—judgmental and heavy. If the old king were alive, he would find Rush’s plans to exact revenge reprehensible.
The piece of Rush’s childhood buried deep,deepdown cringed at the disappointment, but he snuffed it out. His father was dead and his approval no longer mattered. The only important thing at the moment was Aura—who was absent from the room. Yet this washerdream…
“Kitten?” he called, spinning around. Why would Aura dream of this room? And where was she? Perhaps she only watched her dreams as an observer. She could be watching him now, wondering what the fuck he was doing here, cursing him up and down for doing this to her. “Kitten, can you hear me?”
