Cooling her skin – as a sensation of hands smoothed over her.
Shivering, Ariana’s breath caught as she felt that haunting touch. As the sensation slipped up her body now, cradling her waist and brushing her shoulder blades, she suddenly felt a man’s presence in the air before her. As his hands made of nothing glided over her bare back, she felt him ease close. Cool, ephemeral lips brushed hers as her heart pounded – her entire body suddenly alive with a dark, pleasurable eros at his deft touch. Wetness slicked below as she felt full, soft lips kiss her neck. With a dark smile and a hot breath on her skin, he was gone.
Leaving Ariana shivering with pleasure as Quinn’s voice breathed through her mind.
Beautiful.
Reeling, Ariana arrested herself from falling with one hand upon the gilded mirror. But Quinn’s magical touch upon her from afar lingered now, burning hot and cold at the same time as she breathed hard, trying to get her shit together. Blinking rapidly, Ariana tried to ignore the tingles rushing through her and failed. His ephemeral touch just flat did it for her, however he was using his magics at a distance to make her feel this way.
It was crazy, Ariana shook her head as she straightened. Quinn was presumptive for interrupting her privacy like this, wasn’t he? And yet, Ariana found herself aching for him as she went to the gilded bathroom, doing some quick makeup and pinning up her still-styled red hair. Her body thrummed and her magic sang strangely inside her, dark-bright and luminous as she affixed stunning black diamond, sapphire, and onyx teardrop earrings in her ears, then nestled a truly astounding filigreed necklace of black diamonds and onyx with a massive sapphire between her breasts. A matching bracelet clipped on her wrist, snug like a hand, and Ariana shivered.
Having a sudden fantasy of Quinn’s iron-strong fingers upon her from last night.
A vision flashed through her then, of him hauling her close last night and scraping his fangs over her wrist. Shudders swept Ariana as pleasure rocked her; waves of silver and gold heat and midnight cool rushed through her as everything gripped, spasming so hard she lost her hold on the table and crashed to the marble floor. Writhing, Ariana gripped her hands into her hair as she arched, feeling that amazing sensation possess her, deep. As she surged, that vast silver-gold midnight flooding her, she saw a flash of Quinn’s onyx eyes in her mind. His lips came upon her lips; his fingers brushed hers and Ariana cried out again.
But then the feel of his strong arms curled around her, and she felt him lay his cool cheek against hers.Easy, Ariana. Be calm, please. Calm your power back…
Ease suddenly poured through Ariana as she lay in Quinn’s unseen arms on the bathroom floor. Like the vast calm she had felt in the tombs earlier, a never-ending balm of the dead flowed through her then, pushing her careening power back, and she was grateful. Gasping deep breaths, she felt the quicksilver tide inside her soothed by Quinn’s power until it was only a small moonlit glow deep inside her once more. It was still erotic, vastly so, but it had calmed from whatever Quinn had done. As his voice sighed in her ear, Ariana heard relief in him too, that he had managed to control her power’s sudden outburst.
Forgive me for provoking your magic… I did not mean to. I will see you at the concert, and I look forward to your arrival.You look beautiful.He breathed through her mind one last time.
And then he was gone.
Ariana was left alone on the gilded marble tiles of her bathroom, breathing in long, slow waves. The cool of the grave still clung to her as she sat up – and as she did, her head reeled as if she had been somehow drained of energy. Her body felt light as she slowly stood, and she had to cling to the makeup table and keep her head down to stop the room from spinning. As she finally lifted her head, she felt that dissociated euphoria still breathing through her, as if she’d lost too much blood and was close to fainting.
And as she looked in the mirror, she saw her eyes had drowned black.
Ariana’s breath caught to see what Quinn had done to her. Somehow, he had pushed his power inside her from afar to control hers, or drained her; and it had left her irises with that drowning onyx color Devi manifested when Quinn’s power was high inside her. Ariana stared at her eyes in shock, frightened by the change but almost impressed by their belladonna beauty. Like she was high on drugs, her body felt like it would fly away.
As her eyelashes fluttered, a strange sensation unfurling from her spine.
Like wings of moonlight, that sensation flooded out from Ariana as she reveled in her euphoria, still gripping the table. As she arched from the impossibly luscious sensation, she saw a silver-gold mist full of black rainbows roll out from the her spine, curling into the room just as had happened earlier in the cemetery. But rather than an unformed aura of power now, these were actual wings of moonlight mist and darkness as they surged out, flaring up all around her in the bathroom. A beautiful dark-bright color, they were silver and gold, black and full of rainbows all at once as flashes of pure white moonlight flickered in their depths.
And Ariana sighed with sheer pleasure, a heady eros filling her veins – before that dark-bright mist suddenly flowed away, gone.
“Sweet goddess!”
A voice at her door made her turn – and Ariana saw Curio Silverfrost standing there, gaping at her as he slowly shut the door of her suite. Ariana didn’t know how much he’d seen, but like with the Faeanic sigils yesterday, it had clearly been enough as he stared at her in astonishment, moving slowly towards her in the bathroom. As Ariana looked at herself in the mirror again, watching her eyes bleed from onyx back to their regular vivid green, she turned her head this way, then that. Silver-gold shone in her eyes now, like watching moonlight and sunlight both shimmer over a deep midnight forest. It was haunting, and leaning closer as Curio arrived, staring into the bathroom mirror with her, Ariana even saw hints of dark rainbows.
As she pulled back from her reflection, wondering at the change.
“What the hell is happening to me?” She asked Curio, turning towards him as her mind raced. Whatever Quinn had done to soothe her magic was ebbing now, flowing away from her sinews as a jangled sensation replaced it. Frowning, Ariana reached up to fix her hair from her time on the floor, but Curio’s quick fingers got to it first. Gorgeously handsome tonight, he gazed at her with a somber intrigue as he helped her. Dressed in a silver-white modern Victorian ensemble with dark grey breeches, Curio’s Winter Fae origins were amazingly played up tonight for the concert. As he finished with her hair and his white-blue eyes roved her, Ariana suddenly felt like she was undressed in her slinky lace gown.
All her problems laid bare to his piercing winter-bright eyes.
“I can only assume your power is opening, Ariana.” He spoke quietly now, a slight frown on his silver-white brows. “But even though I’ve met a few Dark Fae in my life, the way your power manifested just now was truly astonishing for someone so young. What happened? What were you feeling just then, that made your magic pour out of you like that?”
“Quinn.” Ariana spoke softly, not really wanting to explain it all to Curio, though her single word seemed like explanation enough as his silver eyebrows shot to the ceiling.
“I see…” He spoke softly now as he blinked. Lifting his hand, Curio’s eyes were troubled as he brushed his knuckles over her cheek, though it was kind. Heaving a sigh and shaking his head, he seemed to summon himself back from his sobriety now, to his blithe Head Concierge persona. But Ariana had seen something far deeper in Curio a few times now; just like Devi, he was far more than he seemed as a member of the Dark Haven of Florence.
Though his low chuckle was sweetly scandalous now as he offered Ariana his arm.
“Well. Never mind about your power. You look absolutely ravishing, Ariana, almost as much as you were last night in that hot red number. Though I liked seeing your legs in those tall heels. Pity. Quinn will like this, though. That neckline makes your breasts look positively juicy.”
“And you’ll see me shove you right out this door if you can’t be civil. And Quinn will have to miss seeing my breasts or any other part of me tonight.” Ariana suddenly ripped right back, as she set her hand on his arm. Something about her jangled energy after Quinn’s seduction and her own energy pouring open in that massive tidal wave just now had left Ariana with a spicy tongue. But even though she blinked at what had come out of her mouth, something she previously would have thought but never said, Curio only laughed.
“I’ll behave.” He chuckled now, though his eyes flashed with merciless humor as they exited Ariana’s suite. “But only because Quinn will tan my hide if you aren’t at the concert tonight.”
