I remember thinking the tiny brush strokes made the woman’s blue eyes look alive.
The painting!
The healer gave me a painting of Lyra.
Lyra’s image etches into my thoughts. The perfect posture. The delicate features. The confident smile.
“I won’t allow your antics to dissuade me this time,” Jasce says.
I ignore him and continue pacing.
How did I wake up in the body of a woman I saw in a painting?
Magic?
But how?
And who?
Not a single Hematite with silver or crimson fire magic can do something like this. At least, not any Hematite I have ever heard about.
"Why?" I mutter, needing answers.
Jasce moves to stand in front of me. "You know why I am here, Lyra."
I blink, drawn back to Jasce and this moment. "I honestly don't."
“You will share my bed, and you will conceive an heir,” he says with enough candor and arrogance to make me feel bad for Lyra, whomever she may be.
Share his bed?
Does he mean…tonight?
Warmth rushes to my cheeks as I realize what he intends to do.
I lick my bottom lip and dart my gaze between the door and the man standing there, expecting to have his way with me. “I n-need you to w-wait.”
Please, wait.
His shoulders tense, conveying his impatience even before he speaks. “It’s been six months.”
“You want an heir? That takes time.” It took Asha a while to conceive her son after she married her husband. “It shouldn’t be rushed.”
“Fuck!” Jasce straightens abruptly.
“There is no need to get angry.” Asha would be proud of how calm I sound when facing a tall, muscular barbarian.Especially,when that barbarian just said he wants to put his child in my body.
His mouth curls in contempt. “You are toying with me.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. I would toy with a lion before I would dare to tangle with this man. “I am not.”
“When you asked me to wait, I waited. I gave you the space and time you asked for, but you promised me something in return.”
I curl my fingers into my sleeves and don’t speak.
Deep lines appear near his mouth as he frowns. “But you’re still refusing, still pushing me away. Why?”
Nerves slither in my chest as I slip my fingers higher and higher inside my sleeves.
