~11~
Her breath caughtaudibly in her throat, and she leaned toward him, swaying as if rapt. “It already is. The tendrils of your magic slipped inside my skin long ago, sliding quicksilver through my veins, strumming my nerves to sing just for you. Gabriel,” she sighed, “the Fascination bound me to you from that first night. The bonding in this arcanium solidified those ties so no one can take me from you.”
“The hunters tried.”
“They have no innate intelligence, only followed orders. They wouldn’t have succeeded for long. Separating a wizard from their familiar doesn’t… go well.”
“What happens?”
“Remember the tale I told you of Sylus and Lyndella?”
All too well. He wasn’t fond of the tragic story Nic seemed to like so much. “Abducted, Lyndella went mad, and Sylus arrived just in time for her to tragically die in his arms. So he bled off all the untapped magic that drove her insane to begin with and spent it wreaking revenge on his enemy, killing himself, but taking his nemesis with him.”
She smiled winningly. “You always listen and remember. It’s a lovely trait.”
“I’d prefer not to emulate their sad story.”
“Then don’t. Awaken your arcanium, wizard. Take what is already yours.”
Part of him wanted to draw back, to resist those words and their drugging pull, but the rest of him exulted in the knowing and the needing. This beautiful, magical, fierce, and powerful woman was his. His darker nature leapt at the leash, salivating to consume her. “What do I do?” he whispered. Lifting a hand, he caressed her cheek, her flawless skin soft as nothing else in the world.
She held his gaze. “You decide.”
“You can’t just tell me?”
“I could, but I don’t want to spell it out. It’s more exciting for me for you to take that lead. More exciting for me is more magic for you and the arcanium. And you are the wizard, that means you must learn to be the guiding force. Follow your wizard’s intuition.”
Curling his fingers into his palm, he nearly stepped back from her and found he couldn’t. She didn’t know, couldn’t know, what images plagued his mind, the things he fantasized about doing to her. Then her infuriating words from the night before came floating back…You can release all that pent-up fury and passion upon my helpless body.He supposed she did know, or somehow guessed at least some of it. But then, how could she look at him so trustingly? He feared breaking that trust more than anything else.
“You said we could start slow,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. He’d been avoiding looking at that silver bed, but his gaze went to it, irresistibly drawn. “We didn’t get a mattress for the bed.”
“Yes, well.” Her smile took on an impish tilt. “You and I haven’t been so successful with beds. And I figured you weren’t ready to think about this one yet.”
Those silver chains… No, he wasn’t ready to wrestle what that thought did to him. “So… here?”
“Whatever you want. Remember that you’re learning to excite and then control my magic. Work the metaphor and do exactly that to me.”
“How can I know what’s exciting to you?”
Her full lips curved, a hit of ruefulness, a great deal of amusement. “Gabriel, my only love, you’ve known that from the very beginning. Remember that first meal, how you took control, getting me to eat and drink with you? You seduced me, bit by bit, until I had no ability to resist you.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Put in those terms, it made him even more culpable.
She laid a hand on his jaw, gripping just enough to get his attention. “Overthinking is a problem for you. Don’t think. You followed your instincts that night. Follow them now. You know what you want me to do. Tell me to do it.”
Don’t think.“All right. Take off your clothes.”
Her eyes darkened, a faint tremor in her fingers. “Yes, sir.”
Grabbing her wrist before she could trigger the fastenings on her gown, he stopped her. “Don’t call me ‘sir.’”
She yielded to his grip, inclining toward him. “How shall I address you in here?”
“As you always do.”
She shook her head. “It needs to be different, so we both know what lines of power we’re working. Both in the arcanium and outside of it.”
He definitely didn’t want her calling him anything deferential outside of the arcanium. She waited, compliant in his hold. “Call me wizard, then.”