Golden Stair by Jennifer Blackstream Read Free Book Online Page A

and was staring at him with eyes a little too bright, a sheen of sweat on her forehead. He furrowed his brow in confusion and immediately wished he hadn’t as the scalded flesh of his forehead pulsed in agony. After a few deep breaths, he gathered himself enough to speak.
     
    “I’m the one lying here like a roasted boar,” he said lightly. “It seems the slightest bit odd that you are the one who seems upset?”
     
    “I didn’t mean to do that,” she whispered.
     
    “I should hope not, it’s treason,” Adonis agreed weakly. He cleared his throat, stifling a moan of pain as he forced his body into a sitting position. “Might I inquire about why you did it?” He dragged his gaze up and down her body, almost falling over with gratitude when a little pulse of arousal flickered inside him. It wasn’t nearly enough for any real magic, but the caress of it over his senses helped take the edge off his pain. He offered her the closest thing he could manage to a smile. “I thought we were getting on so well?”
     
    “I didn’t even know I could do that,” Ivy insisted, her voice shaking along with the rest of her body.
     
    “Forgive me, fair one,” Adonis said stiffly, trying his best to keep his tone light, “but it seems somewhat of a stretch to think that a sun elemental would cremate someone on accident.”
     
    “I’m not a sun elemental, I’m a witch—a healer.”
     
    Adonis narrowed his eyes. “I am an incubus, a creature born on the astral plane. I can see your aura, fair one, and you are no witch. You’re a sun elemental, and you are way too old to be surprised by your own powers.”
     
    “I am not a sun elemental!”
     
    Adonis raised an eyebrow as she held up her hands, her eyes wild, her voice climbing an octave higher.
     
    “I’ve never done anything magical besides healing,” she continued, staring at her hands as if they belonged to someone else. “I just… When you told me who you were, and I realized… I knew what you were going to do…”
     
    My reputation precedes me. Adonis shrugged it off. He had a reputation as a rake, sure. But he’d never had anyone react like that. No one had a right to react like that, it was his life. He didn’t force himself on anyone. He was an incubus for the gods’ sake.
     
    He picked up the tea despite his determination not to give her the satisfaction. He needed his strength. Besides, it didn’t make sense that she would poison him when it would be so much easier to finish what she’d started with the fire. He downed the cup in one gulp.
     
    “You didn’t seem so unwilling,” he observed after a moment. “I wasn’t forcing myself on you.”
     
    “I hadn’t said no yet,” Ivy fired back.
     
    Her voice was getting stronger, even if it was still a little hoarse. She snatched a book off a nearby table, her fingers flexing as if she was considering hitting him over the head with it. The vein in Adonis’ neck thudded with a heavy pulse and he forced himself to gently set the teacup back on the floor before he gave in to the urge to crush it. His blood heated, though this time it was not with passion. Ivy was dangerously close to accusing him of rape, and if anything could bludgeon its way past the substantial wall of his good graces, it was being accused of forcing himself on a woman.
     
    “I’ve offered you no violence and you nearly killed me,” he said, his voice tight with restraint. “Perhaps you’d like to reconsider how you’re speaking to me?” All traces of good humor melted from his face, leaving her with the blank stare he so rarely managed.
     
    “How did you even find this place?” she demanded. “Are the others coming as well? Did you lead them into this dimension?”
     
    “This dimension?” Adonis echoed. His shoulders drooped. He narrowed his eyes. “Others?”
     
    “Yes. How did you find it?”
     
    Adonis folded his arms across his chest and tilted his chin forward. “I was flying with an angel