2_-_court_of_mist_and_fury_a_-_sarah_j._maas

Through the rising steam from the tub, I said, “I think you and I would shred each other
to bits.”
“Oh, we most definitely will.” He leaned against the bathing room threshold. “But it
wouldn’t be fun otherwise. Consider our training now officially part of your work
requirements with me.” A jerk of the chin. “Go ahead—try to get past my shields.”
I knew which ones he was talking about. “I’m tired. The bath will go cold.”
“I promise it’ll be just as hot in a few moments. Or, if you mastered your gifts, you
might be able to take care of that yourself.”
I frowned. But took a step toward him, then another—making him yield a step, two,
into the bedroom. The phantom grease and hair clung to me, reminded me what he’d done
—
I held his stare, those violet eyes twinkling.
“You feel it, don’t you,” he said over the burbling and chittering garden birds. “Your
power, stalking under your skin, purring in your ear.”
“So what if I do?”
A shrug. “I’m surprised Ianthe didn’t carve you up on an altar to see what that power
looks like inside you.”
“What, precisely, is your issue with her?”
“I find the High Priestesses to be a perversion of what they once were—once promised
to be. Ianthe among the worst of them.”
A knot twisted in my stomach. “Why do you say that?”
“Get past my shields and I’ll show you.”
So that explained the turn in conversation. A taunt. Bait.
Holding his stare … I let myself fall for it. I let myself imagine that line between us—a
bit of braided light … And there was his mental shield at the other end of the bond. Black
and solid and impenetrable. No way in. However I’d slipped through before … I had no
idea. “I’ve had enough tests for the day.”
Rhys crossed the two feet between us. “The High Priestesses have burrowed into a few
of the courts—Dawn, Day, and Winter, mostly. They’ve entrenched themselves so
thoroughly that their spies are everywhere, their followers near-fanatic with devotion. And
yet, during those fifty years, they escaped. They remained hidden. I would not be
surprised if Ianthe sought to establish a foothold in the Spring Court.”
“You mean to tell me they’re all black-hearted villains?”
“No. Some, yes. Some are compassionate and selfless and wise. But there are some who
are merely self-righteous … Though those are the ones that always seem the most
dangerous to me.”
“And Ianthe?”