Page 184 of The Blade in the Ashes
His jaw worked as he nodded, rising from his crouched position. “When you first told me of the moment Clayton Vail had taken you to his balcony and taught you to summon your powers, I noticed the way your eyes lit up. I saw that sparkle of power that lingered in them. And I knew this was the spot that would be sacred to you.”
I held my hand out expectantly. “Can I have it?”
Caldrius’s fingers flexed along the hilt of the blade as he lifted it to hold it flat in each of his palms.
“A bit longer than a dagger or knife, and yet not quite long enough to be considered a sword,” he noted. “Something in between. I suppose that makes sense for the Goddess who is the embodiment of the space between the realms.”
A sudden chill was working its way down my spine, an icy awareness that had nothing to do with the temperature as he continued examiningmyblade.
“Caldrius, the blade.” I prompted again, stretching out my hand even further.
He lifted his chin, meeting my gaze through the fan of dark lashes. The look on his face left me shivering.
“I can’t do that, darling.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Thea
Ishook my head, hearing his words but not quite making sense of them.
“I knew you would never find the strength you needed to claim your divine power locked up here at the castle,” he explained, waving an arm at the ruins around us. “And I was right. Look at you now. You’re incredible.”
He lifted the blade into the air between us, the sun catching on its sheen. “And with this? Thea,together, we’re going to be magnificent.”
The eerie stillness of the air felt oppressive. Wrong and uncomfortable. Even the breeze had found itself frozen against his words.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Caldrius, but I need my blade. My friends are in trouble.”
Caldrius approached me, his eyes warm as he reached out to tuck my wild hair behind my ear. His touch against my jaw was gentle, a tingle of sensation that traveled through me as he rested his free hand on the nape of my neck.
“I told you, when you don’t have any power, you need to claim it.”
“You’re not making sense,” I protested, reaching once more for the blade.
And just as he pulled my blade from my reach, his mouth descended on mine in a punishing kiss.
He caught me entirely unaware, and I froze in confusion while his mouth moved on mine relentlessly. He pulled me closer until his chest was pressed against mine so tightly that I felt every rise and fall as he breathed me in. With easy precision, he parted my lips and kissed me as though he’d done it a million times before. He explored my mouth with all the passion of a hungry lover, but with the lazy elegance of someone with all the time in the world.
As if he knew the exact shape of my mouth and the exact way he liked to hold me.
“This is the beginning of our forever, darling.”
His grasp on my neck tightened and pain sparked down my spine as he ripped me towards him, grabbing my arm and turning me until my back slammed against his chest. I stumbled, trying to pull away, when the tip of steel met the delicate skin of my throat, piercing it with easy precision.
My own blade.
He was holding my own fucking blade against my throat.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned in my ear as I began gathering my power. “I’ve spent a millennium next to a God, do you think I don’t know how to move fast enough to kill you before you strike me?”
His voice was low and almost unrecognizable, the words cutting and... true. He meant every single thing he said. I didn’t need to feel the dampness of blood dripping down my chest to know that.
“Why?” my voice broke. “Why are you doing this?”
It made little sense. After everything we’d been through, after he’d earned my trust for asecondtime, I couldn’t believe that he really meant to harm me. I just couldn’t.
Caldrius was myfriend.
