A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal (Stars and Shadows #2)(4)

Because I didn’t trust him to not use it against me.

“Yes, you can.” He nodded and leaned forward until his chest was completely wrapped in my magic. “You are its master, princess. Call it back into you. Make it bow to your will.”

I focused on what he was saying, but my heart was still racing and my skin felt alive from where my magic touched his skin. I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than him.

Evren reached forward, and I flinched away from his touch. It didn’t matter how affected I was by him; I didn’t want to be the stupid girl who simply allowed him to lead me to slaughter. He was my enemy now more than ever, and I needed to remember that.

“Let me help you, Adara.” He pressed his hand against my chest firmly, and I felt it ground me to my core. “Feel it here.” He pressed harder, and I took in a ragged breath. “Call it from here.”

I didn’t understand what he meant, but I tried to concentrate on that spot where his hand was touching. I focused on it and it alone, and I clamped my eyes closed as my chest rose and fell beneath his touch.

Come back to me.

I felt my magic pause as if it heard me. It hesitated as it rolled through the tent, and I called it again as I felt the weight of it bearing down on me.

Come back to me.

This time it listened.

Slowly, it seeped back toward me, and I allowed it to do so. I breathed it in, desperate to feel it back inside me.

With every inch that sank back into me, I felt more complete. It snaked its way back into my veins, and I could taste my own power as it did so.

“That’s it. Let it come to you.” His words fell over me as my magic filled me, and I slowly blinked my eyes open to look at him.

His hand was still on my chest, and his thumb slowly stroked over the base of my neck as the last of my magic disappeared inside me.

We were silent for a long moment as we simply stared at one another. There were so many thoughts running through my head, so many words I was desperate to whisper from my lips, but I would have been foolish to say any of them.

“I should go back to my bed.” My voice trembled.

“You should stay.” His dark eyes were pleading, and I hated how badly I wanted to soothe that look on his face.

“We both know that I shouldn’t,” I spoke softly as I shook my head.

“Stay.”

I looked at him like he had lost his mind. I wasn’t his to command. I didn’t answer to the man who betrayed me beyond all others, but still something inside me begged me to listen to him.

“I hate you.”

His eyes shuttered, but he simply nodded. “I know you do, but you can hate me tomorrow. For tonight, just stay.”

I pushed up off my knees as I shook my head. I avoided looking at him as I climbed to my feet because I knew I needed to put distance between us. I hated him, but my body still called to him as if it couldn’t imagine leaving his side. But before I could move away, he caught my hand in his and clung to me with a heartbreaking desperation.

He pressed my palm to his chest, and his heart raged beneath my fingertips.

“Please just stay for tonight. Just tonight.” His hand trembled against my own, and I bit down on my lip as my chest seemed to ascend and descend to the same frantic beat. “Please, Adara. I need you.”

His words sliced through me, cutting through every bit of resolve I had left, and I knew that I would end up letting this man destroy me if he asked me to. He had shown me exactly who he was, but I was still willing to walk into the fire as if he hadn’t.

I looked back to my bedroll as I tried to fight the urge to say yes. I felt weak giving in to him. It was sickening how hard it was to push the word no from my lips.

“Just tonight.” My lips trembled as I said the words, but his hand steadied against mine. He pulled me forward until I had no choice but to drop back to my knees in front of him. He lifted my hand in his, and I couldn’t look away as he brought my wrist to his mouth and pressed a gentle kiss to the sensitive skin on the inside.

The same skin his brother had torn open with his dagger and taken from. The same skin that I thought he had healed.

I attempted to pull out of his touch, but he held firm, dragging me closer to him inch by inch. Just as our chests were about to meet, Evren laid back and pulled me down with him. We were hardly touching, only his hand still on my wrist, but I could feel him everywhere as I lay at his side and stared into his handsome face.

He wasn’t saying anything. Just silently watching me with his hand in mine, and I didn’t understand how he was so calm when I felt like screaming.

“What were you dreaming about?” The question slipped through my lips before I could think better of it, and I watched the edge of pain that still filled his eyes.

“You.” His gaze searched over my face as I flinched back from his answer.

“Me?”

“Yes.” He nodded before lifting his hand and sliding two fingers across my cheek until he tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “I dreamed of what I have to lose, princess. I dreamed of what my brother would be willing to kill for.”

A chill ran down my mark, and I swallowed down my fear at the truth of his words. Gavril would kill to get me back, but how far would he go? Would he hurt Evren in order to get the power that flowed through my blood?

“He is your brother.” The words slipped past my lips and my chest ached for him. It was something both Evren and I shared. Those who were our own blood, the people who should have cared for us most, were more than willing to use us so easily.