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Her shoulder shifted. My magic sensed the dagger before I could see it. My hand reached, grabbing the wrist plunging a dagger into my chest. I felt a sharp prick before pushing her back against the pillar.

The pain sobered me slightly. My shadows still whirled between us, but I could control them now. I looked down at her. She wasn’t radiating with magic and warmth.

She was just the Blade.

The enemy.

Had this been some kind of trick?

She thrashed against my chest, trying to break my hold. “You make a habit of kissing people before you kill them?” she snapped. She thrashed again before looking up at me. I thickened the shadows in my hood. If she noticed, she didn’t show it.

I leaned forward, hiding my face as it swept her cheek. “It won’t happen again,” I murmured, trying to find the strength to walk. I took a breath of her scent. She smelled of dawn and cedar. I took one more breath and then I left her there before she killed me.

I flew through the back alleys of Cereliath to the small inn where Nikolai and Collin were waiting for me. My heart raced and I could still feel the rush of power in my veins. Like an aftershock. Warmth pulsed through my body, electrifying my skin. It was intoxicating. I stumbled through the back door.

“You’re alive,” Nikolai said, deadpan, peering over his magnifying spectacles. He was holding a metal contraption in his hand.

I slapped my hand on the counter of the empty kitchen and took another ragged breath. All I could feel was my magic. The coldness hadn’t returned, but it still felt familiar. No sharp point of a dagger clawing down my limbs, instead my power caressed my skin. Gentle and waiting. For once, it was fully at my command.

I didn’t trust myself to use it.

“What’s wrong?” Nikolai stood, his metal ball falling to the floor. “Did she stab you? Are you hurt?”

I waved Nikolai’s worried hands off and stumbled toward the table. Nikolai took a seat beside me, one knee bouncing as placed his spectacles on top of his curly head. “Is she . . . dead?” he whispered, needlessly looking around the empty room. It was just us. Collin would be keeping watch from the roof.

“No.” I held my face in my hands, trying to ignore the magic stirring in my veins.

Nikolai gasped. “She escaped?”

“Not exactly.” I lifted my head just enough to look at him.

Nikolai pursed his lips, waiting for an explanation. I took another deep breath and leaned back in the chair.

I rubbed my brow, replaying that moment over again in my head. Her face. My magic. Her lips. “I kissed her,” I answered, still in a daze.

Nikolai’s eyes widened before his face broke into a knowing grin. “Not the best time to get swept up in the moment, my friend.” I huffed a laugh. Nikolai thrived on the unexpected.

“What did she do when you kissed her?” Nikolai’s smirk grew.

I coughed. “She tried to stab me.”

Nikolai blinked once. Then again. Suddenly he slapped his knee and doubled over in laughter. “Promise me I can meet her before you try to kill her again,” he rasped between laughs.

“I’m not trying again. . . . At least not yet.” I stood up, the magic finally cooling along my skin. I took a normal breath. “We need to leave.”

Nikolai stood without question. “To where?”

“Aralinth,” I answered. “I need to see Feron.Tonight.”