The word comes out breathy. Faltering.
Something possessive coils tight in my chest—primal and absolute.
Mine.
The thought blazes through me before I can cage it.
17
ILYRA
The door crashes against the frame hard enough to rattle the hinges. I storm inside, chest heaving, fury crackling beneath my skin like lightning trapped in a jar.
Azrathiel lounges across my bed—mybed—like he owns the damn thing. One arm draped behind his head, obsidian skin glowing faintly in the dimming light. Gold-flecked eyes track my movement with infuriating calm.
"Did you see?" I snap, whirling on him. "You were there, weren't you? Iknowyou were there."
His expression doesn't shift. Doesn't need to. The answer's in the way those ember-veins pulse beneath his skin.
"Of course you were." I pace across the narrow space, boots scuffing against worn floorboards. "You're always there now. Watching. Lurking."
He waits.
I hate that he waits. Hate that he doesn't interrupt or correct or dismiss me like everyone else does. If he did, this would all be easier.
"That entire farce today—" My hands fly up, gesturing wildly. "Dragged all the way to hisestate. And I use that termgenerously because calling that crumbling port hovel an estate is an insult to actual estates! But no, Bram couldn't possibly be bothered to comehere. I had to be carted out there like livestock being transported to market."
Azrathiel shifts slightly, sitting up just enough to rest his forearms on his knees. The movement draws my eye—too fluid, too predatory.
"And then—" My voice pitches higher. "Then he insists on watching the fitting himself. Circling around me like I'm some prize mare while that terrified seamstress tried to pin fabric with her hands shaking. He wouldn't stoplookingat me, Azrathiel. His eyes crawling over every inch like he already owned me."
The air temperature drops.
I barely notice.
"And that comment he made—" Disgust curls through me in waves, hot and nauseating. "Did youhearit?!"
"I heard."
His voice cuts through my tirade. Low. Controlled.
Lethal.
"'You'll kneel so well,'" I spit the words out like poison. "As if! As if I would ever—" My hands clench into fists. "I willneverkneel for him. Never! I don't care what contract Vaelra signs or what pressure he applies. That creature doesn't deserve?—"
"Ilyra."
I stop pacing.
Turn.
Azrathiel watches me with eyes that burn.
"Next time?" His voice drops lower, something dark threading through it. "Summon me. Do not wait until you're trembling with rage in your own room."
I swallow hard.
"This could be over in an instant." He leans forward slightly, the motion deliberate. Controlled. "One command. One gesture. You could watch me end it all."