I did not appreciate having my control taken away and a random lesson inserted into today’s plans. This was not what we were meant to do here.
But Zakkai was the wild card, the one I couldn’t rely on or trust.
And instances like this only made that lack of faith worse.
Aflora gasped, seizing my entire focus.
Then she uttered a long, wicked enchantment and sent the web flying back at Zakkai.
But it didn’t engulf him. He caught it instead and absorbed the magic back into his wand. “Beautiful,” he breathed.
Aflora narrowed her gaze and hit him with another strike of blue magic, then spun a ball of WarFire into her palm. It whirled with a multitude of colors, the intoxicating mix clearly deadly.
“Do it,” Zakkai dared.
She released it, throwing it right at him.
Where it landed against his chest.
Aflora shrieked, jumping up to her feet and running to him in a daze of concern. Only for the fire to sizzle and disappear, his clothing and chest fine. But he caught her by the back of the neck and drew her in for a kiss, one that ended in her biting his tongue.
He chuckled as she slapped him. “What was that?” she demanded.
“Defensive Magic,” he drawled, glancing at me. “Just the upgraded variety.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Are you trying to piss me off?”
“I don’t think I have to try, Zephyrus,” he replied. “You’re in a constant state of pissed off around me.”
“Hmm, I wonder why that is?” I pretended to think about it. “Maybe because you don’t know how to be a team member and fucking communicate.”
“No, I’m rather certain it’s because I won’t get on my knees and suck your cock like all the others,” he returned. “I’m not one of your students or your lover. I’m your better. Yet you attempt to dictate to me like I’m one of your pupils, when in reality, I’ve been playing with your spells since I was five years old. So if anyone is going to kneel for anyone, it’ll be you on your knees for me.”
“Okay, maybe—”
“That’s never going to fucking happen,” I snapped, cutting off whatever Shade was about to say. Because fuck this. “Those spells I’m teaching Aflora are ones I learned as a boy, too. But she’s a new Midnight Fae. I can’t just throw advanced enchantments at her and expect her to learn.”
“And yet that’s exactly what Constantine is going to do,” he countered. “We can’t baby her. We can’t go easy on her. We have to go hard. Because the Dark Source sure as fuck isn’t going to treat her like a child with training wheels.” He stepped up into my space, his silver-blue irises swirling with power. “I’m ensuring she survives. What the fuck are you achieving by coddling her?” He lifted an eyebrow, daring me to argue.
But I didn’t know what to say.
Because the bastard was fucking right.
I focused so much on protecting her—because my natural instinct was to guard—that I’d forgotten how to truly prepare her. How to teach her.
I took a step back, needing my space from him… from them all… to think, to process what to do next.
“Zeph,” Aflora murmured, moving toward me.
“No, Aflora.” I looked at her, a shield of magic immediately encasing me, my desire not to be touched clear, and perhaps not fair to her, but necessary nonetheless. “He’s right. The bastard is fucking right.” And I hated admitting that. Hated him for pointing it out. Hated him for existing.
I shook my head. “I just… I need a minute.” I backed away, heading toward the room exit.
I needed to rethink everything.
To create a new plan.
Three weeks wasted.