Page 73 of Obsidian and Frost

“High praise. Compliments received.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “Even with the lightly veiled sarcasm there along for the ride.”

“Sarcasm? Me? Of course not.”

“Hmm, you’re trying to give as good as you get with me.” He smiled. “Just like you did when you believed I was causing trouble for our tumultuous wolf.”

“Yes. And, speaking of that, we need to talk about what you want from my power. That night atThe Fadewhen we fused our magic to perform that spell together, I know it was you testing something, investigating… whatever.”

“A blended Wraith-Necromancer concealment spell,” he mused. “Certainly something, wasn’t it?”

“Sylas,” I hissed. As if I couldn’t recognize a deflection attempt… it was something I’d learned to employ well myself.

“Mmm. The way you breathe my name, all fiery like that, is beyond alluring.”

I flicked some of my shadow magic at him, watching as it wrapped around his hand, weaving through his fingers, intending it to startle him from his continued deflection and his sultry words he was firing my way.

But then his magic sparked, and dark red shimmering power encircled my own shadow magic, tangling with it.

A jolt of pleasurable intensity rolled through me at the point of contact as he played with it.

Our gazes clashed and I saw his eyes hooded, affected just like me.

Then he grinned and flexed his fingers and he unraveled my shadows entirely from him and flicked them back to me.

As I reabsorbed them and sucked in an unsteady breath at the heat of what he’d done licking my skin and permeating beyond skin-deep as well, he shifted his weight and blinked harshly.

“Necromancer… Master of Death Magic, among other things,” he told me. A smile curved his lips. “How about you focus on this class for now, especially given the fact that it’s one you’ve been looking most forward to?”

“Things can only happen on your timetable, huh?”

“On the contrary, they must only happen on yours.”

“What are you—”

“You are guarded, extremely so. You believe it’s paranoia, but it’s a necessary response to the trauma you’ve suffered through. The day you came to my home, you told us that you don’t want to regress, that you want to keep moving forward. But that’s easier said than done when it comes to certain things. Such as embarking on a sexual relationship with Lazriel, admitting that you may also be drawn to me,andworking with me on what Ineed your power for to assist with my own issues I’m having with my magic.”

He smiled.

But this time it wasn’t self-satisfied, or flirty.

It was honest and kind of endearing. “To collaborate magically requires trust. It requires you not just to be willing out of curiosity or fear that I’d be using you… you need to feel safe.” He settled back into his chair. “And we don’t find ourselves in that state at present, do we?”

I stared at him in open-mouthed silence.

That’s right, like a guppy.

Fortunately, that didn’t last long as the door to the classroom closed with a definitive thud, the action felt through the entire room.

I scanned the area, realizing that I’d been so wrapped up in my interaction with Sylas that I hadn’t noticed that the space had filled up.

As this was a very specific sort of class, it wasn’t packed likeApex Magic and Theorywould be, which was a much broader topic. There were about two dozen students in total—a handful of Shadowmancers only, because they were so rare, similar to Wraiths, sorcerers and sorceresses who wanted to understand shadow magic and learn to wield a manufactured version of it, and even some Dark Fae.

I noticed Kelsana and her boyfriend up at the front. Her gaze went to Sylas and she smirked flirtatiously, so caught up in it that she didn’t even notice that her boyfriend was fuming beside her. Fuming at Sylas, not her. It seemed, especially from what Lazriel had told me about it, that Rennick was too afraid to upset her to confront her directly about it. Not that I was the queen of healthy relationship dynamics, but it really didn’t seem very healthy to me.

She caught my eye and I was surprised when she nodded at me respectfully, then turned back to face the front. What was that about? My last encounter with her had been her spouting cutting things about me in the Grand Atrium. Not to mention, I was sitting right beside the guy she clearly had a crush on.

Speaking of… I looked out at Sylas and he seemed completely oblivious, holding his palms four inches apart and concentrating on swirling his dark red magic in a spinning sphere.

No way. Sylas Morgrave was never oblivious. He just wasn’t paying it any attention.