“Brother,” Draikis said with a little nod as they passed one of his fellow priests.
“Brother,” the man replied with a similar tilt of his head, a slightly curious look in his eyes.
Draikis and Ella separated slightly, a respectable distance between them, but the pair were still drawn as if sympathetic magnetic forces flowed within them. And, at least to Ella’s perception, it very well might have.
At long last they arrived at her door, a pang of want twisting in her belly. Ella looked left and right. The corridor was empty. She opened her door and stepped inside, the electric tension between them thick in the air. She could feel him on her skin, the heat radiating off his body, the faint smell of his fresh sweat tickling her nose. Ella stood there, expectant, her every nerve tingling with a need that was only growing by the moment.
She looked up at him expectantly. His pupils were wide, his pulse hard in his neck, a slight grin tickling the corners of his mouth. But Draikis stood firm.
“I’m not coming in,” he said with a soft resolve in his voice.
“No, of course not.”
“I mean it. I cannot.”
“I know.”
He shook his head. “Really, Ella. My vows.”
His words said one thing, but the undeniable pull between them was saying something quite different. But he resisted. Remained strong. Stood fast where lesser men would havefolded. But the tension was pulling them both, so powerful Ella didn’t know how much longer she could stand it.
“You can still spend a little more time with me. You’ve been inside plenty of times before.”
“It’s—it’s different. I can’t simply… I just can’t.”
“I don’t see why not. I mean, your runes are modified, right? Can’t you stay a little longer?” she asked, words saying one thing but meaning quite another.
He smiled, a slightly sorrowful look on his beautiful face. “My runes are blocked, but yours are not,” he noted, not adding that the marking on his chest felt more alive than it had ever felt beneath his tunic.
“I’m a big girl. Come in, just for a little bit.”
His smile broadened as he shook his head with slow regret. “I’m not sleeping with you, Ella.”
“That’s not what I said.”
He flashed a wistful grin, took a step back and turned from her. “I’ll see you later.”
She watched him walk away, her heart skipping a beat when he paused, turned, and locked eyes with her one last time before disappearing down the corridor, both of them feeling the pull as the distance increased, their Infalas calling out to one another, hers in a confusing new way for the human woman, him in a manner that should be impossible for one of his kind. He’d not only taken vows, but his Infala had been blocked for years. This simply could not be, and that was all there was to it.
Little did he know.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Okay, now what?”
Ella paced in her quarters, agitated and uneasy. Her outing with Draikis had been exceptional. Invigorating. Enlightening. And at the end, more than a little bit confusing. He’d left her abuzz with all manner of feelings and emotions, and despite the distance they’d covered in their walk, which should have burned off some of her energy, she now found herself nevertheless quite antsy, bordering on agitated.
“Ah, screw this,” she grumbled, heading for the door, a plan already fully formed to take her mind off the undeniably sexy priest who had left her in such a state.
The walk to the archives wasn’t a long one, and she knew the way, not requiring any sort of escort to aid her. It was a welcome bit of independence in this place where as both an outsider and a female she had experienced more than her share of uncomfortable male gaze, grudging guidance, and micromanaging judgment.
But this? This was one of the few things she could do on her own.Trulyon her own. And if she played her cards right, she could pass the rest of the day without having to deal with a singleone of these men, aside from Nilkis, the archivist, of course. That she didn’t mind so much, though. He was still standoffish, but after a slightly rough start, he had seemed to develop at least a grudging respect for her. Book people liked book people, even if they were the wrong gender and from the wrong planet.
Books could bridge that gap. Somewhat, in any case. They’d never be best buddies, but he was warming to her in his own way.
The promise of digging further into the ancient texts was starting to shift her mood, something to focus on that would not only be rewarding but also take her mind off this confusing draw to Draikis. The weird rune of living ink now permanently marked into her flesh was an annoyance she couldn’t quite wrap her head around. One thing seemed obvious though. It was pulling her even harder toward the reluctant priest as time progressed.
“Don’t think about it,” she chided herself, speeding her pace.
