Chapter 27
The storm woke me before Nadja did.
Thunder rolled so violently it shook the walls, lightning splitting the sky in blinding white flashes that slashed through the narrow gap in the curtains.
Nadja entered quietly. When she saw I was already awake, she gave me a small wave to indicate it was time. Once I was dressed, she escorted me to the training chamber, where Veylan was waiting. He held the door open as I stepped inside, then gave me a bored look before melting away.
For once, the terrace doors were closed.
Rain lashed against the glass in furious sheets, driven hard by the wind until it sounded more like pebbles striking the castle than water.
Thunder cracked again so violently the veins of light running through the walls flickered and dimmed, casting the room into uneven shadow.
Lightning arced. For a brief, blinding instant, it illuminated him, already waiting for me at the mat.
Then the light was gone, and he became shadow once more.
For a heartbeat, he looked as he had in the space between our minds—that formless presence tethered to the Veil, with neither flesh nor face.
Only there, his eyes had burned silver within the void.
Now, there was nothing. Only darkness where they watched me.
I slowed as I approached, bracing myself—for anger, for punishment, for some response to what I'd done the night before. Giving Levinica the kitten. Defying him.
But when I reached the edge of the mat, he said nothing.
His expression was hard, his gaze fixed and solemn, his brows drawn in frustration as though he wanted to see through me, to step into my mind, and was forcing himself not to.
He knew what it would cost him to dreamwalk. Knew what I could take.
I swallowed and glanced down. His boots had been discarded beside the mat. Fighting the apprehension building inside me, I bent and removed my own without a word.
The mat was cold beneath my feet. Thunder rumbled, shuddering through the floor beneath me, and lightning flashed again—briefly igniting his eyes, catching the silver flecks of power banked behind that unyielding stare.
Without a word, he stepped closer until only a breath separated us.
Every instinct in me flared to life. He stood with a preternatural stillness, yet beneath the tightening of our bond I could feel his magic—vast and monstrous—held in such perfect restraint it was almost beautiful.
For a moment, I wondered if the storm wasn't outside after all, but standing in this very room, leashed beneath his skin.
As though answering something in me—or perhaps in him—a whorl of ink stirred beneath my gaze. It curled slowly up the strong column of his throat, traced the line of his jaw, then swept across his cheekbone toward his temple.
His bargain mark.
My pulse lurched as my magic awakened, rushing hot through my veins. It reached for him at once, drawn to the vast well of power within him.
Too close. And not close enough.
The urge struck without warning—to reach out, to close the distance, to touch…
I locked my arms at my sides, but the heat only grew. It blazed at my core until faint light shimmered into existence between us, stretching across the narrow space that separated our bodies. Silver caught along the edge of his face.
I was glowing.
Another crack of lightning split the chamber—and for a heartbeat, the silver in his eyes brightened in answer.
He dipped his head slightly.
“Step. Back. Twist. Push.” His voice was a low rumble of thunder.
Before I could make sense of the words, he moved. One hand seized my wrist, the other my shoulder as he pivoted sharply. My spine collided with his chest, his arm locking across my collarbones, trapping me with my back flush against him.
My magic flared wildly in response to the contact, my body going rigid as I felt the solid press of him at my back, his powerful forearm braced across me.
I was suddenly aware of everything.
Every point of contact. The hard press of his body. The steady warmth of him through the thin barrier of my clothing.
No. This wasn't happening.
I jerked against his hold, desperate to wrench free.
The more I struggled, the tighter his grip became, locking me against him with infuriating ease. I had to get away. I had to calm whatever his presence was doing to my magic—to me.
His voice vibrated through his chest and up my spine. “Step.” The word barely carried over the storm battering the windows, but the command in it stopped me.
Was he... guiding me?
Yesterday, there had been nothing—no instruction, no hint. Only impact after impact until I either learned or failed. But this... this was different. He was giving me something.
A clue. A kindness, if such a thing were possible from the Dark Prince. And a concession like this could only mean one thing.
Levinica was improving.
I bit down on my lip, smothering the smile before it could surface as I fought the sudden lift in my chest.
“Step,” he repeated gruffly, dragging me back into the moment.
I shifted forward, testing it—I could only manage a small step, barely enough to carve out the slightest sliver of space between us. The movement cinched his forearm across me, pressing higher, closer to my throat.
“Back,” he instructed.
I hesitated, thinking it through. My weight had shifted forward. My back leg was free, which meant…
Before I could decide, his foot nudged mine, firm and impatient. I followed the direction, stepping backward along the angle he set between us. My back pressed tight against his chest once more, sending another rush of heat through me.
“Further.”
I adjusted, settling deeper into the stance, my back leg wedging between his as my balance shifted. Just slightly, but enough to feel it. Different. Stronger. Like I could finally brace against him.
“Twist.”
I started to pivot. His grip tightened instantly, locking me in place. I stilled, his instruction clear without him needing to say a word.
Not away. Toward.
Carefully, I tried again. This time, I turned into him.
My shoulder slid along his chest, the movement drawing me closer instead of freeing me. I felt it then—the slight give in his hold. The narrow opening I hadn't noticed before. The subtle shift in his balance as mine changed.
Lightning flashed again. And suddenly I was facing him.
So close that I could feel his breath against my lips, the rise and fall of his chest, the tension coiled through him as tightly as it was through me.
His gaze latched onto mine. Unblinking. Intent.
For a single, suspended moment, neither of us moved.
The storm crashed against the walls—but it felt distant, dulled beneath the pounding in my chest. I was dangerously close to the male who’d brought an entire continent to its knees.
There was something strange happening between us, something slipping just beyond my grasp. A steadiness to him, almost gentle in the way he guided me, that I couldn't make sense of. Because he wasn't gentle.
There was nothing gentle in his touch. Or his voice. Or his eyes.
His body was hard and honed, a lethal weapon in itself. And yet… infinitely patient—
“Push,” he finished, his breath stirring the loose strands of hair at my forehead.
My mouth suddenly dry, I planted my hands against his chest. Hard muscle met my palms, warm and solid—and beneath it, I could have sworn his heart was beating just as fiercely as mine. I shoved, breaking away from him, stumbling back to the edge of the mat.
I was free.
It had all happened so slowly that I didn’t understand why I was panting now. Why his breathing was just as ragged as mine.
My skin brightened, the silver in his eyes sparking. The ink curled up around his brow.
“You felt that,” he called from where he stood.
I hoped to hell he meant the hold. The maneuver.
“Yes,” I rasped.
He stepped back to the center of the mat. After a steadying breath, I followed.
“Again, then.”
He was on me in an instant, quick as an adder. He spun me into the same hold, my back colliding hard against him. As fast as I could, I tried to break free—but I rushed it, the movements clumsy. He held me still.
“Slow,” he murmured against my ear.
I hated the way my body reacted to his proximity, to his touch. Hated the way my magic reached for him. All I wanted was to wrench myself free and put as much distance between us as possible.
But I listened. Again, I moved through it, like a dance.
Step. Back. Twist. Push.
I slipped free of his grasp.
Again, we went through the move until it flowed naturally, speeding it up until it became one continuous motion, fluid as water.
Outside, the storm had passed, though lightning still forked across the distant skies of the mainland. Even the rain had eased, no longer hurling itself at the fortress. Eventually the glow beneath my skin dimmed, and vanished.
After the smoothest, cleanest escape I'd managed yet, he simply turned his back to me and pulled on his boots without a word.
Relief loosened the knot in my chest, but not by much.
My nerves were still frayed raw as I pulled on my own boots and hurried toward the door, not bothering to look back to see if he'd disappeared as he had last time.
My hand had just closed around the handle when his voice stopped me.
“How did you know it would work?”
I didn’t need to ask what he meant. Levinica. The kitten.
I paused, turning just enough to see him. “I didn’t know for certain, but…” I hesitated, searching for the right words. “I thought it might be good for her. Something she could touch without consequence. Something that would—”
“Need her,” he finished.
I nodded.
The feeling that settled between us was strange—tentative, uncertain, something I couldn't quite name. It took me a moment to understand what it was.
Understanding. A truce, of sorts.
We both cared for Levinica. Neither of us wanted her to suffer. And despite everything he was—my enemy, Aedric's enemy, the enemy of Elantis—in that moment, he was only her brother. And I was only her friend.
For once, it wasn't the bond that tethered us. It was her.
He cleared his throat. "Thank you."
The words nearly made me stumble. I stared at him, blinking, and whatever crossed my face seemed to sour him. His nose wrinkled, and shadows stirred at the edges of the room, coiling inward until they wrapped around him in a tight, spinning cocoon.
“Did you just—”
“Don’t get used to it.”
And then he was gone.