ith a day's worth of cooped-up resentment. "Not the pa

ame unyielding line he'd worn ever since the council chamber. "Not until Lazryn finishes

wung my legs over the side of the bed, testing feet that finally felt

aida

tration. "Don't tell me what I need. You don't get to manage

. "It's the fact that every guard in this palace has a theory ab

n his jaw, close enough to feel the heat rolling off his skin. I hated how quickly my body ha

t tryin

flat against his chest to p

s the m

d into us; a violent, physical crackle. Vyr

e left him soundi

r did I. "I know. I feel it too, and

humor cutting through the suffocating tension. "Believe me.

t's f

n't sa

urdled into somethin

my fingers curled into the front of his shirt, his palm c

rrible idea,"

es

hould

sho

did

lentless pull of the magic,

r caution. It was the frantic rhythm of two people pretendi

tact. His fingers tangled into my hair

ild, frantic hammer; the exact, terrifying

self away, ga

like veins of liquid fire. Iridescent scales rose and recede

arbone as if he could physicall

breathed, my own

ppen this fast," he warned

he upper chamber. A figure stood there, draped in a dark hood, utterly sti

rn.

but by the time his gaze swept

quiet stones and the rush

and cracked through t

later, but the search yielded nothi

er two fingers over the fading gold mark on his

brow furrowed deeply. "The bond hasn't stabilized.

what?"

e doorway. Zael drifted into the room like smok

el said quietly. He set the bundle on the

ebbed with dull red veins that pulsed with a fain

e make," he whispered, "as the one