Page 84 of Lady of Starfire

“Doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does,” she scoffed.

“You’re wrong.”

Her mouth fell open at the finality of his tone, as if the conversation was over. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“This is how you want it, Eliza,” he retorted.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means if you want a report on things that have happened, you’ll have to ask someone who answers to your queen.”

Her lip peeled back in a sneer, and she made to push off the door. But his other hand came up, wrapping loosely around her throat and holding her in place. That frenzied gleam was still in his eyes, and she couldn’t decide if the move was a primal instinct to stop his current source of power from slipping away, or if it was a calculated move. Perhaps a bit of both, but he finally met her stare.

“You have made it clear this is what you want,” he said tightly. “Avonleyan and Source. That is all that we are. I needed my power refilled, so I came here. That is the extent of the information I owe you when that is all this relationship entails.”

She didn’t know what to say to that because he was right. This is what she’d demanded of him. She shouldn’t be asking him what was going on across the Edria. She shouldn’t be looking to him for anything.

His thumb brushed along her pulse point. Then he did it again. And again. He still held her by the throat, but the hold was loose. She could easily break it if she wanted to. Razik knew that too. Knew she was allowinghim to hold her that way. She could tell he knew it by the way his thumb kept making those light passes on her neck. By the way his gaze had zeroed in on her mouth. How that frantic mania that had been in his eyes was shifting to something else despite everything he’d just said to her.

And her power kept going to him. Her flames almost entranced the way a Night Child could entrance another. That was an ability unique to the Night Children, but they were descended from the Legacy. The Night Children had been cursed by Arius for continuing to feed on the blood of Fae instead of taking Sources, but what had happened to that entrancing ability in the Legacy and Avonleyans?

“Are you going to take it all?” she asked hoarsely.

“If you’d let me, I would take everything.”

Her breathing stuttered, air getting stuck in her throat that he was still caressing with his thumb. She could tell he hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

“Razik,” she whispered.

His eyes snapped to hers, as if suddenly remembering where he was. He cleared his throat. “I was completely drained. Even taking all your power, my wells still will not be fully replenished.”

“So youaregoing to take it all?” she repeated, her knees weakening. She’d like to think it was completely from being drained of her magic, but his godsdamn thumb was still moving.

“I will leave some,” he replied. “But I will need to draw again when your reserves have refilled. Before I can go.”

“If you drain it this much, it’ll take a few days to get to that point.”

“I am aware. I had a Source before.”

Her lips pursed. As if she could forget that.

“It was nothing like this,” he added as an afterthought.

“I don’t care,” she snapped.

“Of course you don’t.”

That mocking smirk made an appearance, and Eliza yanked her arm from his grip. “If you’re going to draw from me again, that is enough for now.”

It wasn’t lost on her that she’d forced him to release her arm and not her throat.

Godsdamnit.

His gaze dipped to her mouth again, his lips parting slightly, before his hand slipped from her neck, and he took a measured step back. She couldn’t move though. Mainly because she was sure she would stumble from losing so much power so quickly, and she’d be damned if he would witness that. So she stayed pressed to the door as though he were still holding her there.

“This is not going to work,” he said tightly, folding his arms across his chest and eyeing her.