“So predictable.” That husky, feminine voice sounded familiar.
I stilled and stared, my gaze stony though my heart stumbled at the sight of Lexa Van Norsen, the woman I’d hoped never to see again.
At least, not alive.
“Still the same old Lexa.” I gazed at her without expression, taking in her denim jeans and T-shirt. She’d obviously just been at the Outpour.
Despite my precautions, she’d taken me by surprise. I had to force myself to sound calm. “Slumming again, Blue? Or are you just desperate enough not to care who you fuck?”
Her lips tightened. “Blue” had been a deliberate use of her old nickname, given in friendlier times. I saw the insult hit home. We hadn’t been friends in over a century.
“Well,” she drawled, “rest assured I’m not so desperate I’ll fuck you.”
The blow hurt more than it should. But I raised a brow in clear disdain and waited.
She glared, the pale blue of her eyes like an icy dagger. “Leave well enough alone before you do more damage than even you can possibly repair.”
She had the nerve to dictate my actions? I studied the spark in her eyes. Despite the stupidity of her claim, she appeared sane enough. Sane and tired, by the look of her. She remained a veritable beauty, but Darkness clouded her once-ethereal splendor.
Innocence and integrity had molded her. But in the end, her Dark blood had run true.
The Van Norsen line of Dark Lords continued with its most promising son, Sin Garu. And now, here, with its menacing daughter.
“Arim.” The paleness of Lexa’s features emphasized the full, bloody-red pout of her mouth. The dark shadows under her eyes made her gaze that much more piercing, the light blue so pale as to be almost ashen, striking against the inky blackness of her hair.
She was death and beauty and betrayal in one alluring package.
And I knew better than to believe I’d ever really known her at all.
“Yes, Blue, you what? Wanted to see me again? Wanted to talk? Wanted me to forgive you? Take your pick.”
Plastered against the wall, my arms and legs splayed, I could do nothing more than hang there. Yet my words had scored their intended damage.
“You forgive me?” She blurred and appeared before me, where she slapped me hard across the face. Her small palm shot pulses of blue flame where it touched.
“I hope it burns.” She seethed, glaring like a she-wolf prepared to strike. “You weren’t worth the effort then, and you sure aren’t worth it now.”
I sighed. “I’m shocked. After all this time, that’s all you’ve got?”
Pushing her wasn’t smart, but I couldn’t help wanting to hurt her. Given her power and my inability to strike back with my bound magic, words were all I had.
“Sweetheart, you used to beg for my affection like a stray dog. So weak at heart while so strong in Dark magic. But at least you left on a grand scale, killing Muri and her kin, a fitting tribute to your real family.” I shrugged, as if reminders of the thoughtless deaths hadn’t wounded me a thousand times over.
“I never killed Muri,” she growled, her eyes almost wraithlike in blinding white brilliance.
“And you never knew who your real parents were, right?” I stared with apparent disbelief. “Don’t tell me your intelligence has gone the way of your looks? Give me some credit for knowing you back then.” A complete lie, as I found her more beautiful now than ever, but the mark landed.
She trembled, her fists clenched as she leaned so close our breaths mingled. “Your time is coming, and sooner than you think.” She shocked me with a kiss, the cold of her breath scalding my throat and lungs. “I can only hope Cadmus isn’t as pathetic as you were when I left. That boy’s got potential.” She nipped my bottom lip gently.
To my shock, arousal rocked me to the core.
She pulled back to smirk. “I have better things to do than play with you. Thanks for the memories.”
Rage, the likes of which I’d only felt once before, filled me with power. I balled my fists to gather a fueling storm of violence, ready to set it free, when a sudden flash of light filled the room.
Then… Nothing. Lexa had vanished, along with my restraints. It was as if she’d never been there at all.
Her threat about Cadmus worried me, so much so that I teleported back to my room in Tanselm, in the western kingdom. Then, disregarding my various wounds and the blue flame still burning inside me, I teleported Darius and Marcus to my quarters.
