Page 22 of This Shattered Star

He paused, his shoes scuffing on stone.

My hands reached for the collar of his vest out of precaution.“Why did you stop?”Surely, he won’t toss me,I thought.

If he was bothered by my vice-like grip on his collar, he didn’t show it. “Notice anything different?” he countered, pointing to the door leading to the sixth wing.

“There’s no screaming.” Tentatively removing my head from the crook of his neck, I strained to listen. “They could still be asleep.”

Eyes falling shut, he stood preternaturally still. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest against my shoulder proved he even breathed at all.

“They’re in there,” he declared. Without warning, he set me down softly, the act surprising considering that Kodhan Dreamourne was notsoftat all. No tossing, then.

My body slid against his as he lowered my legs first, allowing me to gather my bearings. With one arm still cradling my back, he used his free hand to ease my fingers from his collar.

And I must have imagined the way his fingers lingered, curling around mine for a moment before dropping them.

He pushed open the door of the sixth wing—which was still on fire—and gestured for me to pass through the flaming threshold.

My heart threatened to punch through my ribs. “You expect me to just… walk through?”

“You won’t get burnt,” he swore, and opened the door wider. Like it would make any difference. “I promise,” he added, noting the newfound pallor in my face, graced with a sickly sheen of perspiration from the heat.

“Your promises mean nothing to me,” I leered, eyeing the writhing flames flickering around him.

His glare was as hard as the surrounding stone. “You can either take my word, or wait for someone proficient in water to make their way out of their wing and drown you where you standinstead.” A beat of silence. “Or perhaps for someone to come suck the air out of your lungs. Or maybe—”

“I get it,” I snapped.Insufferable bastard.

The insult floated, unspoken, through the air.

Kodhan’s lips quirked up at the ends. Taunting. Daring me to speak the words.

Stars, protect me.

Forcing one foot in front of the other, I crossed the burning threshold.

Fire coated the walls of the corridor like bright, golden paint. Writhed along the ceiling like snakes.

Mercifully, he hadn’t lied. When I stepped past Kodhan, the flames reached towards me, but pain did not follow. Instead, the barest of tingles sprouted along the sides of my arms and legs. Warm, but far from unpleasant.

Only when I was a few paces away did the flames dissipate, taking the haunting echo of those screams with them.

“That was…” I started.

“Impressive. I know.”

“Exhilarating.”

I’d made it through solely because he willed it. But nevertheless, my heart now pounded for an entirely different reason. I almost wanted to ask him to call the flames again, just so that I could feel them once more. To toy with something so deadly and get away with it. Slip between its fingers before it could claim me.

I have to win,I thought desperately.

I could become the flame. Something to fear.

My lips pressed tightly together, sealing the request away. The last thing I wanted was for Kodhan to know how much I craved the touch of magic against my skin.

But it was too late. Kodhan had already seen enough.

“If you want to play with fire, little viper, all you have to do is ask. I’d be happy to oblige.” He didn’t wait for a response. He strode past me, though not before I could catch the gleam in his eye.