His thumbs traced circles over my inner thighs, sparking desperate desire. ‘Ah, you wonder why haven’t I succumbed to your magic?’

Succumb!Gods, I sowanted to succumb, sowanted to pull him to me, to close that infinitesimal gap between us. ‘Yes.’

‘I told you once before, Genevieve, your magic is not powerful enough to hold one such as I, not even weakened as I am with this.’ He dipped his head to indicate the spell on his forehead. ‘But your magic does appear to be strong enough to keep it at bay. It is allowing me some respite from the need to fight it.’ He lowered his voice. ‘As does inducing me to taste the delights of your body.’

I inadvertently dug my fingers into the cool skin of his shoulders as an image filled my mind: we weren’t talking euphemisms here. I batted the thoughts away before they shattered my resolve. I was the one supposed to be doing the distracting, not him. And my distraction was working, even if it had been a rough, roller-coaster ride. And even if the ride had ended before the big finalé. Which was for the best, I told myself firmly, determinedly keeping my eyes on his face and ignoring both the frustration itching through my veins, and how tantalisingly close he was, almost brushing against me.

‘Right,’ I said, adopting a businesslike air. ‘If you hold still, I’ll have a look at the spell and see how to remove it.’ I lifted my hand only to have him catch my wrist.

‘I do not think that is wise,’ he said, mimicking my brisk tone. ‘Magic has an adverse effect on you.’

‘If I absorb it, yes,’ I agreed. ‘But I’m not going to do that.’

‘What are you going to do?’

His slightly too casual question rang a warning bell in me. He appeared fully in control, but I didn’t know enough about the spell to trust it truly wasn’t still influencing him, albeit less than before. I decided to sidestep, and satisfy my curiosity at the same time. ‘First, I think you need to tell me why you’re shining.’

‘You are the one that is shining, Genevieve. Like the desert sun at noon.’

Despite his playful tone, a faint echo of sadness twisted in me. Did he miss the sun? I pushed the thought away. ‘I know I’m shining,’ I said. ‘I’m concerned about why you are. Is it something to do with the spell?’

‘The risk is too great for you to remove the spell.’

Okay, so he wasn’t going to answer. And whether his silvery moonlight glow was connected or not didn’t really matter. Time to bait a hook, see what I could catch. ‘I’ve got something that takes all the risk out.’ I grinned. ‘A magical turkey baster.’ Not that I could magic it up here from Leicester Square, but hey, he wasn’t to know that.

Emotion flickered in his eyes, eagerness, desperation, or both, though with my magic colouring them gold, it was hard to tell. ‘Do you have it in your bag?’

‘Well, it’s not stuck behind my ear, is it?’ I said, giving him an arch look.

Pain contorted Malik’s face. He dropped my arm and made a slashing gesture at my backpack. It lifted itself from where I’d dumped it and smashed into the wall at the far end of the room with a resounding crash.

Well, that confirmed my suspicions that Malik had some sort of kinetic power. And – I shot my crushed backpack and its scattered contents a resigned look – that confirmed my other suspicion. Malik wasn’t fully in control of Malik.

‘Genevieve. I order you—’

I grabbed his cock and squeezed. It had the desired effect.

He stopped speaking, a heavy groan of need cutting off whatever order he, or the Autarch using Malik as his mouthpiece, had been about to give me.

‘I knew there was a reason you got naked,’ I muttered, slapping my other hand on his forehead. This time when I seized the Jellyfish spell I was ready for its stingers, gritting my teeth as the pain arced though my body. Only my own determination and Malik’s hands clamped around my thighs held me in place. I panted through the pain, working my fingers into the jellyfish, caging the mass tightly in my hand. Another groan came from Malik, this one less needy, more agonised. I glanced down at the hand holding him . . .

Oops.Looked like I was going to have to do the adult equivalent of the kids’ trick of patting my head while tracing circles on my stomach, otherwise this was sonot going to be any fun for him.

Not that fun was what this was about.

I focusedon his forehead, slowly tugging the jellyfish, taking care none of its stinging tentacles snapped and were left behind. The things were vicious, alternatively attacking my arm or trying to reattach to Malik through the brand. The jellyfish pulsed against my palm, and horror washed through me as I realised it wasn’t the normal magical spell construct but was a living organism the spell had been taggedto. Ugh. It had been inside Malik’s brain, constantly stinging and no doubt feeding off him. No wonder he couldn’t think. I swallowed back bile. The sadistic Autarch really had it coming for this.

The jellyfish finally pulled free with a disgusting sucking sound. I released Malik, threw myself back on the table and plunged the jellyfish into the flower arrangement, using my will to tagit to the roses. I yanked my hand back, focusedon the magic at the Jellyfish spell’s heart, and crackedit.

The roses exploded in a blinding flash, petals raining down like bloody confetti. Crimson seared my retinas, burned inside my skull and down my arm. I had a moment to think . . . that’s not right. . . before red-hot flames roared up and consumed me.

‘Genevieve.’ Malik’s voice pulled me from the fire I was twisting in. I opened my eyes. His were only inches away. For a long moment I wondered why I was on my back with Malik almost lying on top of me, his hands clasping my head as if he meant to kiss me. It was an intriguing position, and one part of me wanted to take advantage of— if it weren’t for the gleeful little devils sticking my arm and skull with their hell-hot pitchforks.

‘Do you remember what happened, Genevieve?’

‘Yep,’ I whispered past the pain. Pain that, I now realised, came from having parts of the spell, thanks to the jellyfish’s venom, inside me when I’d destroyed it. Damn magic, always ready to sting you – literally this time. Good job I was hard to kill. ‘Jellyfish stung me. Infected me with spell. Crackedit. Hurts. Happens.’

Exasperation and concern warred on his face. ‘What hurts?’

‘Arm. Head,’ I muttered.

A soothing chill emanated from his hands as his power cooled my blood. Not quite a healing but enough to banish the pain and spread a welcome peace through my body. I noted his pupils were back to their normal obsidian black, no hint of gold or red. I smiled, relieved, and as exhaustion swept over me, let myself drift away. Nothing appealed more than sinking into that coolness and sleeping for at least a month.

Ice seared my veins as he dialled his power level up, instantly shocking me awake. ‘What the hell was that for?’ I muttered.

‘You were losing consciousness again.’

‘Yeah, well,’ I said grumpily. ‘I’ve had a busy night. Let me sleep.’

‘You can sleep once I know the spell is gone, Genevieve. Not before.’

‘Stop worrying. I blasted it and now you’re good to go.’

‘Yes. I am fine.’ He braced his hands either side of my head, raising himself up. I thought about pushing him totally off me, and getting up, then decided moving was too much effort; I might as well lie here while we chatted. ‘But it is you I’m concerned for. The jellyfish is parasitic. It has been living inside me for the last three months, feeding off my blood. It stung you. I want to ensure that you are not infected by its poison or any remnant of the spell, or my curse.’

I sighed and forced myself to focus. The brand on his forehead was a healed scar, nothing more. He was clear of the spell. I scanned round. Shredded rose petals, tiny chunks of glass, bits of something green which had me frowning until I realised it had to be the florists’ foam stuff the roses had been stuck in, and specks of translucent jelly littered the table and no doubt the floor nearby. It was all free of any magic. As I was.