“Where do you feel it?” he asked.
Without realizing what she was doing, her legs parted slightly. Her bare skin peaked out of the slit in her dress. “It’s moving up my legs.”
“Good.” Bael’s hand hovered just over her leg, not touching her, but guiding the magic. Under her dress, the magic caressed her bare skin.
“Let the magic move slowly,” he said. “Take control of it.”
As his hand moved in the air above her legs, silky shadows worked higher up her thigh, and she felt her knees falling away just a little more.
She turned to him, her eyes on his perfect lips. Gods, she wanted to press her mouth against his.
His thrilling magic had moved all the way up her inner thigh, and her breath came fast. If he keeps going, I will lose my mind. If he doesn’t keep going, I will also lose my mind. She was supposed to be focused on the magic, but all she could think of was that hand hovering just over her thighs. How she wanted him to touch her skin, to slide those powerful fingers under her silky underwear. Her breath hitched.
“Do you have control?” he asked.
“Not even close,” she breathed, her chest flushing. What the hell is wrong with me?
His gaze met hers, and he leaned in, his mouth just inches from hers.
In the next instant, his muscles tensed. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Ursula’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t quite remember how to put a sentence together. “It’s fine.” Her cheeks burned. What just happened? She wasn’t entirely clear why he’d apologized.
A look of confusion—one she’d never seen on Bael’s face before—had overtaken his features. “This isn’t working. Maybe me acting as a conduit is interfering with your ability to feel the magic. Maybe you should try it on your own. If I see you losing control again, I’ll stop it.”
She nodded. “Of course. I think I’m ready. That all...totally made sense,” she blustered.
She jumped off the throne, mortified that her flushed chest gave her away. Stupid pale skin.
Bael rose, walking down the steps. “The second I see you losing control, I’ll pull you off.”
She nodded, still lost in a daze, then sat in the throne.
As soon as she sat, cold magic thrummed over her legs. As Bael had instructed, she concentrated on moving it slowly up her body, inching it up her legs. Inky shadows flickered over her skin, seeping into her pores, climbing from her calves upward. Magic thrummed up her thighs, her hips, filling her body with raw power. As it raced into her chest, filling her ribs, a wave of blackness slammed into her. For just a moment, she stood in a burning room, and an ancient hand passed her a knife. I need to think of a happier time. The walls of her apartment in New York came to her—a field of blue and gold wildflowers under an azure sky. Home.
Her eyes snapped open again. Bael had been reaching for her, but the look in her eyes seemed to stop him.
She looked out on the world through new eyes, her senses sharpened. As she gazed around the cavern, she could see shadows flickering in the crystals, could smell the warm earthy scent of the mushrooms. And the sound of Bael’s beating heart filled her ears.
“Now,” she commanded from the throne, her voice resonating off the rock. “Teach me to move the way you do.”
Chapter 37
Bael stood across from her in the cavern. “I can see the magic curling off your skin. It suits you. But you won’t be able to move the way I do.”
Her body buzzed with dark magic. She tried not to think about Bael’s hand, running up her thigh. Had he seen the blush creeping up her chest? “Why not?”
“It takes months to learn.”
“I want to try it anyway.”
He sighed. “There’s no harm in trying.”
She crossed her arms. “How long does this magical charge last, anyway?”
“Until you use it up.”
She cocked her head. Power charged her muscles, and she had a burning desire to use it. “So tell me. How do you move that way? If I remember from New York, you can disappear. Like smoke.”
“Shadow running. It’s quite useful in a fight, as you could imagine.”
“And how does it work?”
“Once you’re charged with night magic, you can move from place to place just by thinking.” A cloud of smoke curled around Bael. He flickered out of sight, reappearing twenty feet away.
“You just think of where you want to go?”
“You concentrate, and the magic takes you there. But you must get a feel for shadow magic first. Let it become one with your body.”
“I’m going to try it.”
She closed her eyes, picturing Bael—his golden skin, the smell of his body—like Mediterranean air. The feel of his beating heart against her ribs.
In the next moment, she was pressed against his powerful body. He looked down at her, surprise flickering across his beautiful features.
“Sorry.” She backed away from him. “I didn’t mean to get that close.”
His brow furrowed. “How did you do that?”