Page 102 of Born of Starlight
“I would never use it against you, against innocent people. I vow never to use your power at all. I’m so sorry, Fen.”
His eyelids grew hooded as he looked down at my lips.
“Stop apologizing. You’ve done nothing wrong.” He let a weak smile touch his stiff features. “And if using my power keeps you safe, then so be it. You, my strange beauty…your power mixed with mine scares me half to death. But I do not fearyouwith it.”
“What do you mean?”
He placed my hands back in my lap, seeming to notice the thin fabric of my nightgown with a smirk that I’d once found insufferable. Now it heated my cheeks. Now I just wanted to touch him, hold him, and yet he kept moving me away.
“I mean that you are not my darkness, Asterie. You are my light. Stars are meant to guide us home, are they not?”
Home. His—that orchard in Belray. My heart sank for a moment.Would it change this moment if he knew that he could claim me? Would the temptation of my power get the better of him?I knew that entangling myself further with him wasn’t a good idea.
All good ideas were leaving me.
“It pains me to say this, but it’s best if you go now. You lookfartoo good in that for me to behave myself a moment longer.”
Relieved by the return of his light-hearted flirtation, a smile crept into the corners of my mouth. “I don’t think that’s for the best. Not at all.”
“This morning, you threatened to kill me. You damn near tried.”
“This morning, I was a fool.” I trailed my gaze down his scar. Every muscle on his toned body called for touching—my hand reached out, but I paused.
That smug smile on his face grew deeper.
He answered as though knowing where my mind had wandered. “Go ahead,” he drawled with quiet amusement.
On impulse, my fingers found the scar. Starting at his neck, I traced it down his torso. He made no moves to touch me but didn’t ask me to stop either.
“This was from Van that night. That’s why it stayed…You tried to stop him.” It wasn’t a question.
He nodded, and his core jerked as my finger rested on his pelvic bone where the scar ended. His hands gripped the sheets at his sides.
“Asterie…” My name on his tongue sounded like the sweetest temptation. “You’re playing with fire.”
It didn’t feel wrong to want him. Admittedly, it had never felt wrong. “What if I like playing with fire?”
He wore a hungry expression, yet he still fisted the sheets at his sides as though bracing to keep his hands off me.
He had been so forward with me all along.Why did his confidence wane now? With his truths laid before us, had he grown unsure of wanting me?
“How exactly did you come to that realization?” he teased.
“I found myself attracted to an infuriating warlock who commands fire.”
He let out a dark chuckle, looking at the ceiling where the orb’s remnants still stuck, illuminating us in a pale blue glow.
I continued because he needed to hear the words and see himself as I saw him. “An infuriating warlock who would put his own pain aside to help me. One whose words get under my skin more than any other in both good ways and bad. One who has helped me see that there might be more to discover about myself than who I was made to be by others.”
I should tell him of his claim on me. But selfishly, I did not want to fill these moments with him with any doubt.I will tell him in the morning light.I wanted to forget my fate too—how could I contemplate inevitable death when he made me feel so alive?
“What is it you want, Asterie?” A hint of desperation lingered in his drawl as he stared up at those faux stars. The space where his beard met the skin of his neck was shaved in a neat line and beckoned the touch of my lips—I tried to fight that urge but found myself pitching closer to him.
“You asked me once before what I wanted and who I might like to be. I didn’t even let myself consider it then. But now, I want…I want a life beyond misguided loyalty. I want to live in a world outside of towers. And…I want you to be by my side for whatever is next. For us to approach it together.”
When he finally leveled his gaze into mine, the gold and green there seemed lit from within.Ferns illuminated by the sun.
“What happened to the High Enchantress whoshouldn’twantthings?”
