I rolled my eyes hard enough to hurt.
“Stop, Moonveil. I need something from you.”
His mouth curved into a lazy, mocking half-smirk. “You must be desperate to come to me.” I swallowed, pulse hammering. "Use your mind-bending on me. Now."
His eyebrow lifted. His gaze dropped, not to my face, but to my bare and exposed wrist.
Lorik wasn’t stupid. He knew I wore my protection heirloom every day. And he knew it was missing.
“I thought you’d enjoy this,” I said, pushing my hair behind my ear as his sharp eyes tracked the motion, dissecting me. “You could make me do something ridiculous. Embarrass me in front of everyone. Get back at me. At my family. At the throne.”
“And why would I do that?” he asked, voice cool and precise.
He shrugged, almost bored. “If you want to humiliate yourself to escape the throne, you’re perfectly capable of doing it without wasting my abilities.”
I exhaled sharply, frustration burning through me.
"You hate my bloodline. You hate my family. You hate me. Use that hatred, get back at me now, while you can."
His expression did not shift.
But his voice changed to quiet, edged with something unfamiliar.
"You're too stubborn. Too blind," he said, turning away to snatch up his shirt.
Fire burst into my hands in an instant, and a cordon of flame snapped forward, aiming straight for his wrist. He stillhad his back to me, yet he extinguished my flames inch by inch, smothering them with effortless precision with his Moonveil magic.
His shadow surged across the floor, fast as a whip, wrapping around my hands and pinning them tight against my sides.
He turned then, slowly, and the expression on his face was one I couldn’t place at first.
The emotion on his face was veiled, disappointment, perhaps, or sadness. I couldn't quite tell.
I should have been scared of having my wrist pinned by his shadows, but I wasn’t. “You understand nothing, Thea Solenhart.”
My breath caught.
He had never said my name before. He released the shadows and stepped toward me, silver eyes locked on mine.
“I don’t hate you,” he said quietly. “And I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Liar.” The word cracked out of me.
He didn’t flinch.
“I have never lied to you,” he said. “You’re just… stubborn. A pain in the ass.”
My jaw clenched. “Let’s see, where do I start? You stalked me in the library alone to see how weak I was. Then it was just nice trying to apologize, and you just didn’t care because you already saw right through me without giving me a chance. Then you forced me to fight Rory Rey, who almost killed me, and you were there, clenching your fist, enjoying the whole show as if it were you kicking my ass. Since I arrived, you’ve taunted me,intimidated me, in the Hall of Mirrors, in the meadow, stalking me in the library to dissect me up close. Then
you save my life, twice now, and I’m just standing here waiting for you to name your royal favor any time now.”
He didn’t react to my breathless, desperate spiral. When he spoke, his voice was steady, impossibly calm.
“I encourage you to fight so you can be better, so you can pass your trials. I clenched my fist because I was furious you wouldn’t tap on the mat and even more furious that Rory went too far. She is a piece of work.” He took a deep breath. “I looked for you in the library because I knew you were special the moment you stepped through the doors of Solstice and Dusk. I’ve hated the crown my entire life, but I never hated you. I knew you were different since the moment I saw you.”
My heart stumbled.
“Every day in Dragontail, you’ve proven me right,” he continued, his voice steady but edged with something raw. “Defending commoners like Jan Radke. Speaking your own mind and questioning everything, even your mother, the queen. Being fearless enough to drag yourself beyond the Veil and challenge a wildweaver because even if you don’t want to rule Rionis, you deeply care about this island and the people in it.”