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“Don’t you worry,” Niyx said with a wink. “I managed to keep all the best parts of me. My modesty is just the tip of the iceberg, but let’s not forget my charm, my intelligence, my animal magnetism and, of course, my incomparable good looks.”

Capping the flask, Alex threw it back to him with a roll of her eyes. “How was there enough room in your cell for both you and your ego?”

“I asked myself the same question every day.”

“Presumably while staring at your reflection and marvelling at your, ahem, ‘animal magnetism’ and ‘incomparable good looks’?”

“Naturally.”

Alex couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore. “You’re something else, you know that?”

“It’s an impossible task, given my vastly impressive attributes, but do try not to fall in love with me, kitten,” he said with a teasing grin. “I don’t do inter-species relationships.”

A surprised snort burst from Alex at his sheer audacity. “You’re breaking my heart here, Niyx. I’ll have to come up with a new five-year plan.”

“Five years, huh? Good to know you were giving me a fair time limit.”

Laughing again, Alex said, “For the record, before this becomes any weirder,no.”

“No?”

“No.” Alex’s repeated word was firm even if it was still bubbling with amusement. “Just to be clear—”

Niyx raised his hands in front of him and interrupted, “Don’t worry—it’s clear on my end.”

“Because you know I think the world of you,” Alex continued over him. “But just not… in that way.”

Eyebrows raised, Niyx asked, “What part of ‘it’s clear’ did you misunderstand?”

“I’m just making sure,” Alex said. “The last thing I’d want between us is—”

“Unrequited love?” He couldn’t even say the words without his lips curling upwards. “Trust me, kitten. You and me, not gonna happen. For a myriad of reasons, not just because you’re mortal.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “I’m choosing not to take offence to that.”

Niyx shrugged. “Hey, you can’t help being human.”

“I’m talking about the ‘myriad of reasons’, Niyx,” she ground out.

“Oh.” He laughed. “Smart decision, then.”

Alex grabbed a handful of snow and pelted it in his direction. He, of course, responded in turn. And that led them to a snowball fight, Meyarin-style—which meant it was fast, it was ruthless and it was unrelenting.

Only when they were both covered in ice—and, in Alex’s case, shivering from head to toe—did they call a truce. Seconds later, Niyx summoned theValispathand returned her to her dorm, where D.C. was still sleeping soundly from whatever he’d drugged her with the previous night. Alex felt a twinge of guilt as she wondered if Jordan had been waiting for D.C. to join him out by the lake as she had for the rest of the week. But it was too late now for Alex to do anything other than hope he had managed to sleep through the night.

“I need to get back to Meya,” Niyx said after drying his wet hair with a towel Alex offered him.

She swallowed the last of the heatedlaendra—at Niyx’s demand, since he was experiencing an echo of her discomfort through their bond—and said, “Wait. I need to ask you something first.”

“Better make it quick,” he said. “I don’t want to risk being gone much longer.”

Her stomach knotting, Alex asked, “What happened to the draekons? To Zaronia? To—To Xira?” When Niyx’s expression froze, the knots in her stomach tightened. But she somehow managed to continue, “Sir Camden told me yesterday that there was a massacre. That the Draekoran leader was killed along with—along with some of the others.”

Sympathy washed over Niyx’s face, alarming Alex further. “Kitten…”

Her heart pounding, she whispered, “Niyx, tell me he’s okay.”

Niyx moved forward and took Alex’s hands in his own, looking straight into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Aeylia. Being imprisoned inTaevarg, I had trouble hearing all the details.”