Semua Bab Ashes of Six: Bab 31 - Bab 35

Nothing would cleanse that meeting from my mind, not even wine. Too many voices raised in vain, too many elaborate poses, and all of it pointing back to her. I left before I said something that would make things worse, my hands jammed into my coat pockets, cutting across the courtyard. The night air was sharp, but it was cleaner than the chamber full of people who seemed to care more about politics than about keeping her safe. The crunch of gravel beneath my boots came as a relief as I made the path to the Everley greenhouse. Soft amber light spilled through the glass panes, a warm glow in the darkness. The air inside always smelled of damp earth and something sweet, and I needed that calm. Needed to remember something that wasn’t tangled up in bloodlines and rivalries. I was halfway to the door before I heard voices, Professor Dana’s, lilting and a little bit ragged at the edges, and Professor Voss’s deep, rumbling voice in reply. I stopped in the shadow of a climbing vine and liste

It was the kind of dream that burrowed under your skin and settled there, thick with heat and danger.Nora was under me in the grass, her back arched, her mouth open in a silent scream. Moonlight shone in her hair, a tangled cascade of black with glimpses of gold that sometimes appeared in her skin when her magic was high. My hands were on her hips, pulling her forward against my body in a steady rhythm that left no room for thought. Her nails dug into my shoulders, biting, and I could hear the scrape of them close to her skin, harsh enough to draw blood, and the bite of it only had me harder. She breathed in sharply and fast, and I breathed with her, and it was too soon, but it had to be this way.And then the wind changed. Her scent shifted. Silver. Cold. Wrong.Shadowed figures stepped out of the tree line in the same predatory glide I’d seen them do on patrol. Silver-blooded mercenaries. The eyes of one caught the light of the moon and gleamed like coins pulled fresh from a grave.