Chapter 100 Taera
Taera
Ipull my hand away, trembling. If this magician is capable of draining his own sister—he’s right. I don’t know him at all.
The skin of my neck prickles with newfound fear.
“You have the same expression as Hazel.” His velvet voice is jarring, coming from the face that betrays what he’s done. “Terror.”
My eyes dart around; he’s blocking the way out. When I draw my gaze back to him, his cold eyes are as calculating as ever.
“Why?” I whisper.
“I’m a magician—a monster, remember?”
My mother’s vacant expression comes back to me. Omi’s scream echoes in my ears. I’m shaking.
He’s scaring me on purpose.
I exhale sharply. Why? I know him too well to believe he’s heartless. No more lies, he said, and my heart sinks. But he’s not even lying to me; he’s lying to himself.
There has to be something underneath the veneer, something he can’t suppress behind a mask. For a moment, I glimpse it in his hardened expression: a rough, brutal vulnerability he’s trying to hide behind sharp words.
He’s still in there.
I wet my mouth and say, “You’re not cruel.”
“You still don’t believe it?” His lip curls up without kindness. “After everything I did to you? To Hazel?”
I wince, letting out a breath. “If you want to hurt me, it’s working.”
Pain flits across his features before he can hide it. He can’t rely on magic to disguise what he’s feeling anymore. Glimpsing his truth softens me.
Slowly, I reach out my hand.
Nikolai’s eyes widen, stunned, as I touch his face. Magic whispers between us, and I show him my confused hurt, my yearning to understand. His lips part, eyes anguished, before he jerks away.
“Stop,” he mutters.
I swallow, steeling myself. “If you want me to stop, I will. I’m done playing games with you. This is your last chance.”
“Good—” His voice breaks, and he snaps his jaw shut, looking furiously at the ground. My heart breaks for him.
I have to be brave before he cuts me out again.
I say, “Do you really want to push away the last person who knows you—who sees you? The real you?”
Something flickers in his eyes. It’s small, fleeting, but definitely there. I bite my lip, not knowing whether to press on or hold back. The wrong choice and I might lose him. I shut my eyes, praying to the desert that I say the right thing.
“Why did you drain Hazel’s magic?”
When I look up again, tears stream down Nikolai’s freckled cheeks.