“What the hell do you want?” Darius snarled, pushing himself up to a sitting position so that he could throw the full weight of his scowl at me.
“Do you have a pirate fetish or something?” I blurted, eyeing the coins and gold with confusion.
“What?” he asked, his scowl somehow defying the laws of physics and finding a way to deepen.
“Well you’re half naked in a bed full of coins so either you’re doing something with them or putting them somewhere… inaccessible while fully dressed or I missed the memo about your enrolment in Captain Silver’s new fleet.”
A beat of silence passed as his gaze dragged over me.
“You really don’t know anything do you?” he asked. “This is how my kind regenerate our power; from gold.”
“Oh.” I frowned at the coins again as I processed that. “So are you Order of pirate then? Do you transform into a one legged man with an eyepatch, a hankering for rum and a pet parrot?”
Darius stared at me for several long seconds and I began to wonder if he might just be about to crack a smile when he spoke again.
“What the hell are you doing in my room?” he demanded.
“Why do you think I’m here?” I bit back instantly. He knew full well that he’d been scheduled to meet me for our tutoring session and there was no way that I was going to allow some bullshit excuse about a kitten to spring from his lips this time.
“The only possible reason I can imagine for you to be stupid enough to come bursting in here would be that you’ve finally come to realise who really deserves to rule Solaria. And that being the case, I imagine you’re about to bow down low and praise me and the other Heirs as your kings,” he said, the casual tone of his voice possibly suggesting he truly thought I might be here for that reason.
“Keep dreaming,” I muttered. “I’m here because you missed yet another one of our tutoring sessions, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
“And what if I am?” he asked, rising to his feet suddenly and sending a little cascade of coins to the floor. “What will you do about it? Make me bow to your will?”
I lifted my chin with every last shred of my anger. “Come and do the session like you promised,” I demanded firmly.
Darius stalked closer and the difference in our heights was made painfully clear as he towered over me and I was forced to look up at him.
“No,” he breathed, his body coiled with tension that I could practically feel. “If you want me to train you, you’ll have to make me. If you really are one of our kind then you’re going to need to learn quickly that Fae take what they want and the only thing that matters to us is power. So if you want me to do something for you then you’re going to have to force me.”
I bit my tongue against the urge to start calling him names and remind him that he’d already agreed to this and replied in an icy tone. “How many Elements do you wield again, Darius?” I asked. “Two isn’t it?”
I let the insinuation hang between us and I almost felt his hatred of me and what I was as it simmered inside him.
“Two are more than enough,” he replied bluntly.
“Yeah… but having all four has got to be better.” God, why the hell was I rising to the bait like this? I’d only wanted him to help me, I’d never had any intention of prodding him about my potential. Hell, I’d never even given my potential much thought but now it sounded like I was challenging him for the throne I’d claimed to have no interest in.
“I’m an apex predator. My kind aren’t built to take orders from anyone. It’s written in my DNA to rule over you. I could never bow no matter how powerful you might have the potential to be,” he growled, clearly reading between the lines I’d never meant to draw.
“How can you know that? You don’t even know what Order I am. Maybe I’m higher up the food chain than you think,” I snarled. I had no idea what had prompted me to enter into this argument with him but now that I’d embarked upon it, I felt like there was no way for me to turn back.
Darius snorted a laugh as he moved to pass me in the doorway, pausing right in my personal space so that I was face to face with the rippling muscles of his bare chest. The scent coming off of him was enough to make me bite down on my lip. It was at once metallic and animal. A hint of smoke and cedar and something totally him.
“No one is higher up the food chain than me, Roxy,” he purred, placing a hand either side of my head and pinning me in against the door.
I swallowed a lump in my throat as I tilted my head back to look up at him, my heart pounding with fear and exhilaration at his proximity. I pressed my palms to the door behind me, locking them in place in case they got any ideas about reaching for the beast before me. Because despite the fact that Darius Acrux was a complete and utter asshole who had made it his mission to make my life a living hell, he was still my exact brand of temptation.
This close to him I felt like an addict sitting before a lit pipe, just hoping the smoke didn’t blow in my face before I caved entirely.
My gaze roamed over his features as the distance between us was reduced to millimetres. The heat between us was building, sparks of energy lighting my skin with a carnal need which I was sure only he could satisfy but I refused to acknowledge the fact.
“What Order are you?” I breathed, wondering why I’d never asked before. He always acted like a monster to me so I guessed I’d never needed proof of what his nature was. But as I stood before him I began to feel like coming here had been a terrible mistake. The look in his eyes said he might just devour me whole and I got the feeling that wasn’t an empty promise.
“I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours,” he replied mockingly and for a moment I could have sworn his eyes changed. They’d looked golden, the pupils shifting to reptilian slits before he blinked and the deep brown colour had returned. Perhaps I’d imagined it but I didn’t think so.
“But I don’t know my Order yet,” I said. “Professor Orion thinks growing up in the mortal world suppressed our abilities.”
Darius eyed me intently as though he were looking for a lie and I resisted the urge to try and shrink into the door he’d boxed me against.
He stepped back suddenly and unhooked his belt buckle before unbuttoning his jeans.
“What are you doing?” I gasped, my gaze locked on his movements as he dropped his pants, boxers and all and I was given an eye full of every single inch of him.
“When you stop eye-fucking me I’ll show you what you’re so desperate to know,” he replied mockingly and I snapped my gaze back up to his face, throwing him a scowl.
“People don’t tend to whip their junk out in the middle of a conversation,” I quipped. “So if you didn’t want me catching an eyeful of little Darius then you shouldn’t have brought him into our discussion.”
Darius released a breath of laughter and for half a second it was as though we didn’t harbour eternal hatred for one another.
He leaned close to me again and I had to work hard on maintaining eye contact as his naked god-like body shifted so close that I could hardly breathe.