Page 29 of The Lost Elemental

16

Kai pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. “You say that like being royal is the worst thing in the world? To most people, it’s a good thing.”

My mouth opened and closed a few times before I could get any words out. “I just—the only royal I know is a total asshole.”

Kai’s laugh carried through the dining hall. “Oh, we are definitely keeping you, Pip.”

“My name is Aura.”

“I know, but you’re so tiny. Yet full of fire. Pip fits you.”

I stared at him. “Do not start that.”

A chair pulled back across the table. “Kitten might work too. She’s got claws.”

That voice. Liquid smoke. I turned to meet endless dark eyes. I swore the smoky shadows still clung to him even in the full light of day.

Kai looked from me to the guy sitting across from us and back. “Do you two know each other?”

Shadow, as I’d dubbed him in my mind, arched a brow. “What do you say, Kitten? Do we know each other?”

Everything in that raspy voice suggested a carnal knowledge.

“Don’t call me Kitten or Pip or anything else. My name is Aura.”

“And you’re leaving,” Riven gritted out.

“Not so fast,” Kai cut in. “There are three of us present at the moment. Put it to a vote.”

Riven’s jaw slackened. “You’re calling a vote over her?”

“Yeah, I am.”

There was a steel in Kai’s voice I hadn’t heard before.

“Fine,” Riven said. “How say you?”

Kai stared him down. “She stays.”

Riven didn’t waver. “She goes.”

They both turned to Shadow. But he was staring at me, searching. He rubbed his fingers together and sparks danced between them.

I pushed back against my chair. There were no flames, but it was enough to remind me.

The sparks instantly died out. “She stays.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Phoenix?” Riven roared.

Phoenix. The name fit him. He was a man of smoke and ash. And even though everything about him terrified me, I couldn’t force my gaze away.

Riven’s gaze pinballed around the table. “Are we in the damned apocalypse or something? Since when do all of you care about some half-human?”

Kai slid into the chair next to me. “Would you go find the Ice Queen and get your dick sucked? You’ve been in a foul mood for days. You need to blow off some steam.”

“I need to understand why the hell all of you are so obsessed with her.”

Phoenix’s lips twitched. “Maybe we just like fucking with you.”