Close your eyes,” Felix tells me, and I oblige. “Do you feel the air moving around you?”I inhale deeply, trying my best to focus on what he’s telling me. He’s spent an hour trying to explain how he uses his alchemy powers to transmute air, but it isn’t helping, and I haven’t been able to access my powers. I’m starting to wonder if I truly have any powers at all, or whether the people in Althea were right, and I was simply cursed.I’ve taken far more time away from Felix’s duties than I expected. The stable is only half built, and we’ve spent days practicing.noveldramaI try my best to calm my mind, to truly feel, the way I’m certain I’ve been able to occasionally the last few days. “Yes,” I whisper, eventually. It’s subtle, but I can feel the buzzing in the air, almost as if the air around us is tangible.Felix moves behind me and grabs my hand, extending my arm until we’re both reaching up toward the sky, our fingers entwined. “Do you feel the way the air moves along your skin as you move?”He’s standing right behind me, his lips brushing against my ear with every word, and I let my eyes close again. “Yes,” I murmur, unable to calm my heart. His body feels strong against mine, our positions intimate. Perhaps this is the reason I struggle to focus.“Feel the way the snow falls, the way it disrupts the air. Look.” I open my eyes to find snow piled on top of us, as though a translucent shimmery golden shelf is holding it. “Do you feel the concentration of air below the snow I’m holding up?”I gasp when I feel it and turn to face him. “I do!”He smiles at me, his eyes twinkling with amusement, and I can’t help but blush. “Hold your hand out.”I lift my hand, palm facing upward. Snow rapidly coats my glove, and I frown in annoyance.“Just stand still, love. Feel the air that hovers around you. Focus on it. Try to imagine a layer of air between your hand and the snow, then inhale deeply and pull more of that air toward you, building an additional layer on top of the one you already have.”I close my eyes in an attempt to focus, doing as Felix asks me to. Even thinking of magic makes me feel panicked. It reminds me of the punishments my father used to dole out, but that’s something I must get past. I inhale shakily, my heart filled with fear as I try my hardest to visualize air pushing up the snow, as though it’s an invisible tray. It feels different this time, almost like the air I’m trying to move isn’t trying to resist my intentions; rather, it accepts it and allows me to guide it. Something sparks deep in my chest, almost like a feeling of acceptance, and I smile involuntarily.“Open your eyes, beloved.”I do as Felix asks, shocked to find the snow that was on my glove hovering slightly above it. It’s nothing like what Felix did, but it worked. I grin, my concentration broken as I turn to face him. “Did you see that?” I ask, unable to keep my excitement restrained. I’ve never felt anything like this before, where the flow of magic and I are fully in sync. “I did it!” I truly do have powers. I’ve had them all along—I just didn’t know it.Felix nods, a big smile on his face. His eyes are twinkling, and I pause in surprise. Standing here in the snow, staring at me with such pride in his eyes… it does something to me. It elicits feelings I’ve never felt before, ones I can’t quite name.“Let’s try one of these ice balls now,” I say, taking a step back from him. He’s far too close. Felix is different here. I didn’t notice the difference until now, but he’s far more relaxed. His brow isn’t furrowed, and he doesn’t look quite as haunted. He looks like he’s just a man, not the emperor of a kingdom that desperately needs him. As he stands before me, he looks like he could just be my husband.I bite down on my lip, instantly racked with guilt. He might be my husband in name, but it’s Nathaniel I’m going back to, and it’s becoming harder to remember that. I tear my gaze away and bend down, grabbing a handful of fresh snow.“Arabella.”The way he says my name has me looking up at him, the snow falling through my fingers. The intensity in his eyes makes my heart beat a little faster, and I struggle to look away from his inquisitive gaze.“What were you just thinking about?”I open my lips to answer, but no words come out. Instead, shame and guilt fill me. I’d been thinking of Nathaniel, and the look in Felix’s eyes tells me he knows it.He raises his hand, and I gasp when I’m lifted into the air. He keeps me at face level to him, his expression one I struggle to read. “Answer me.”“Nothing,” I rush to say. “I was just thinking about the technique you taught me, and whether I can lift anything heavier.”He looks into my eyes and takes a step closer, his body pressing against mine as he leans in. “Don’t lie to me, Arabella,” he whispers. He cups the back of my head before weaving his hand into my hair, his grip tight but not painful. Felix tilts my head, exposing my neck. I gasp when his lips brush against my skin, a strange sense of excitement rushing down my spine.He kisses my neck, his touch soft despite the edge in his voice. “Remember our agreement. You’re my wife. Until the day I let you go, I will not permit you to think of another. I’ve let you get away with it once or twice in an effort to maintain the peace between us, but I’ve had enough. I will eradicate every stray thought if I must. I’ll overwrite every memory until I’m all you can think of.”He lifts me up higher and presses a kiss to my throat, his touch hot amid the cold air around us. Felix wraps his arms around my waist, and I swallow hard as I push against his chest, the desire I’m feeling only fueling my anger.“This is the only way you’ll have me, Felix. Bound and suspended in midair, with no way to resist you or walk away.”He freezes, the movement barely perceptible. “So you keep telling me, with both words and actions,” he says, his voice soft.He drops me to the floor and I gasp as I try to balance myself. Felix turns and walks away, never once looking back at me. I stare after him, instantly regretting the words I spewed in anger, words I don’t even think I meant.