She’s still asleep when we arrive back at the palace, so I carry her in my arms all the way to her bedroom.She burrows her head into my chest and makes these light snuffles that I desperately don’t want to think are adorable.I like holding her like this, protecting her.Knowing that I’ve kept her safe.
But I’m also exhausted; a rare feeling for a vampire because we don’t often sleep.I slide her into bed, taking off her dress and stripping myself of my clothes.I’ll just have a sit down, maybe read while she sleeps.
Only once I’m in bed next to her, the pattern of her snores is so melodic, I find myself nodding off.
* * *
I wake with something curled against me.It’s soft and oddly warm.In fact,reallywarm.Why is it so hot?I peel my eyes open and hiss as a bolt of blistering pain rushes up my arm.
“Shit,” I shout as long beams of afternoon light make their way across the bed.“Shit!”I scurry into the corner of the four-poster bed, wrapping myself in layers of drape fabric.
“What?WHAT?”Penelope shrieks as she jerks upright, throwing yet more of the bed drapes open.I can tell because the curtain I’m curled in warms and my skin bristles against the heat.
“Window,” I shout.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Mother of Blood, Penelope.Did you forget I’m a vampire?Close the fucking curtains…”
“Ohhhh, fuck,” she says.
The bed shifts and I risk a peek through the tiniest sliver of fabric.She pads softly across the carpet to the window and closes the curtains.Finally, the warm drapes cool.I untangle myself from the safety of the thick fabric.
“We must have slept most of the day away,” I say.“But for future reference, unguarded light like that is enough to give me some blisters and a face lift.So, thanks.”I waft a hand in the direction of the now covered window.
Penelope stands there staring at me.
“What?”I ask.
She sucks in her bottom lip, and my nipples peak.I’m suddenly very aware that I’m completely naked, and she is dragging her eyes down my body like she’s licking up every last drop of pudding from the bowl.
“I just… I’m taking in the view, that’s all.”
“Well, it’s rude to stare.So why don’t you do something about it?”
She strides over to me and then stops suddenly.
“What’s wrong?”I ask.
“Don’t worry.It’s nothing.”
She slopes off towards the bathroom, but I’m not having that.She was clearly about to say something.
I fling myself over the bed and enclose her in my arms, pressing my chest to her back.
“Tell me what is going through your head.”I’m not demanding or dictating, I genuinely want to know.
She wriggles out of my grip and faces me but can’t seem to actually look at me.I slide my fingers over her chin and pull up until she locks her gaze on mine.
“Penelope,” I breathe.
“I guess, I’ve had fun.That’s all.And we haven’t exactly talked about whatever the hell this is.”
She looks at me pointedly.I don’t answer because she’s right.Whatever this is has become the elephant in the room.It’s just… this situation.I’m protecting her while we’re here and… We’re… She’s right, I don’t know how to answer that either.
“What is… what do you…” I start, but my words fade because I don’t know how to finish the sentence.
“What are we?”she asks, her eyes all doey and cute, and I want to take the stake I fucked her with and shove it right into my chest.This is just a bodyguard assignment.A favour for Octavia, nothing else.It was never going to be anything else.It’s not like we could ever be anything more, we live in different cities.We’re different species, for fuck’s sake.She’s a royal magician princess and I’m some common vampire.How could we ever be anything more than temporary?
