Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
I hear the shift in her voice, the longing.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget she’s a human girl in college, experiencing life with supernaturals without actually being one herself. I can’t imagine how hard that must be.
“Thanks, Daphne,” I say. “You’re the best. I love you.”
“Love,” she says. “Now go harness all that power like the badass you are. We’ll catch up on everything and have a movie night when you get back.”
“Okay,” I laugh, and we hang up. I head to my door, swinging it open, expecting to see Dagon there, but find Cassandra instead.
“Apologies,” she says, though she doesn’t totally look sorry. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with the human.”
“Okay?” I wasn’t exactly hiding it.
“Congrats on moving the water,” she says. “I know that must feel like a triumph.”
My shoulders drop. “Not really,” I say. “Not when I couldn’t do it without Dagon’s help.”
Cassandra’s red lips shift to a smirk. “I heard that part too.”
Heat blazes over my cheeks.
“Don’t be ashamed of it,” she says. “It’s natural. Especially with elemental power like yours. It’s vast. Of course, you’ll have to tie into heavy emotion first before you really get the hang of it.”
“Heavy emotion.” I laugh softly.
She smiles. “It could be worse,” she says. “You could need to get all sad and weepy to control it. I’d say getting hot and heavy with a hunter is much more fun.”
I press my lips together, barely holding back my smile. “You would know,” I say, thinking of her and Talon’s mateship.
“That I do,” she says, eyes glittering like she’s remembering exactly how much she knows about hunter skills. “And since I know,” she continues. “I can encourage you to keep doing whatever it takes to get a grip on the power. If you happen to have fun or a few orgasms along the way? That’s a bonus.”
I burst out laughing. “Oh,” I say when she only smiles at me. “You’re serious.”
“Why not?” she asks before winking at me and heading off.
I tilt my head. I guess she has a point. Dagon has already been clear about relationships. He doesn’t want one, so there’s no need for us to connect on a deeper level than him helping me get ahold of my power. It can be a purely physical thing.
The ache in my core wants it to be. Needs it to be. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about his kiss or his touch since it happened.
And I do need control over this power. With the war we all know is coming, the king is going to need all the help he can get.
So, in all reality, it’s important that I keep pushing.
Should the way I get there really matter?
Moonlight ripples over the water, a cool silver that moves as I wade through it.
Dagon is practically on the other side of the pond, having kept his distance for the past hour—instructing me from his chosen spot, to no avail.
I did make a few droplets move, but nothing compared to the other night. I can almost feel the connection to my power, like a wisp of smoke from a blown-out candle. The last time, after Dagon had kissed me, the connection had felt like grabbing hold of a solid, sturdy chain. All I had to do was tug it and the water did what I wanted. The stark difference between then and now is frustrating to the nth degree.
“I want to try again,” I finally say, exhausted with the lack of progress. I move toward him, and he shifts the other way.
“You’ve been trying. Keep doing what you’re doing.” He evades me as I pursue.
“No, I want to try what we did the other night.” God, I can’t believe he’s making me spell it out. I walk toward him as he moves back. “It was your idea. And it was a good one. It worked. Maybe if I can connect to the power that strongly again, I’ll learn how to do it without needing your help. If I can just figure out how to grab hold of it, I know I can get better. It doesn’t have to mean anything, just like last time—”
“We can’t,” he cuts me off.
I stop dead in my tracks.
Rejection rolls through me in a wave, stealing my confidence in an icy blast. Confidence he told me I should have.
He came up with the experiment in the first place. I assumed his distance tonight was out of respect, waiting for me to ask for that kind of help should I need it. But, it wasn’t? Which means…he’s stayed away from me all night because he doesn’t want me in that way. Even if it’s just physical.
This…this stings.
“We can’t,” he says again, as if I needed another round of mortification.
The high I rode after his help last time completely crashes. I can’t be mad. I have no right to be. He has no obligation to keep up with the unorthodox methods in helping me reach my power.