Chapter Eight
“You have won the day,” I whisper, fading beside her. I was in power over her for long, sumptuous moments, and now my strength is gone.
Agatha doesn’t care. She curls up against my side and shudders with post-climactic aftershocks. “It was amazing.”
“I’ll get better each time.”
“You were already incredible. No one has ever... No one has ever made love to me like that.”
“Then we’re equals, because no one has ever made love to me like that in this form, or even in my human one. No one has been your match, Agatha.” I hesitate as a horrible thought comes to me. The thought that I deserved my thousand years of suffering so I had the chance to meet her and be her lover.
I refuse to believe that my punishment was justified... but I will gratefully accept that our stars have aligned now.
“You give a purpose to my suffering,” I whisper.
“You end mine,” she whispers back.
My heart cracks from all the emotion she suddenly unleashes inside of it. I hold her close and find myself believing that yes, my torment was worth it.
Would I go through it again to have this night with her?
Maybe not.
To have a life with her?
I lick my lips and swallow, lungs struggling again to digest this world’s air after so much exertion. “I want to be with youevery night—at least part of every night. I know you have a world to travel and things to see and do.”
“I’m actually pretty much a homebody. I like the idea of having someone to come home to every night,” she whispers back.
“PEOPLE WILL THINK I’Mcrazy. But you’re here. You’re holding my cat. This is real.” I pace as I get ready on Tuesday morning. Lucius looks pale, and there are dark lines and creases across his handsome face. He’s more shadow than solid below the waist, but his eyes follow me with hungry passion as Berry rests in the crook of his arm.
“Must you tell people?”
“No... I guess not. I’m just afraid that if I did, they would.”
Lucius’ voice drags off, soft and seductive. “Would you like to know a little secret about your new hometown, my empress?”
When he calls me that, my spine straightens, I feel every inch of the single black seam that runs up my stockings, every frill of my ruffly bow and lacy cuffs. To Lucius, I am a ruler. A powerhouse. A sexy queen. “What, my legion?” I whisper, sliding over to him.
I perch on the edge of the wingback chair that he languishes in, bending my head to kiss him. His hand latches onto the back of my neck, firm and unyielding, while kisses of smoke and shadow spread from the peep-toe of my shoe to the back of my thigh.
“I love when you call me that. It makes me feel less like a weak and trapped animal and more than the evil madman I've become.”
My finger presses to his lips. “A thousand years alone, and you’re still so articulate, so intelligent? You are every inch a warrior.” I smile and remember “every inch” he gave me last night and again in the wee hours of this morning. It aches to sit down, and I’m so soaked that I packed a spare skirt and underwear in my work bag.
“Thank you, Agatha. That means a lot to me, coming from you. You fight these demons every day,” he whispers, patting my temple with his forefinger before smoothing my hair and tucking it behind my ear.
His words make me swell with pride. “No one has told me that before.”
“Humans are silly. They don’t understand as much as my kind—which brings me back to this town. There are magical creatures here. Not just me. I’ve heard this town is built on three intersecting ley lines, providing the energy magical beings need to thrive. Good and evil beings are attracted to this place. I imagine there are some people you can trust not to mock you when you say you’ve seen something otherworldly.”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know... In my limited experience, once a person crosses the threshold of magic, their perception of the world changes. Go out and about today. See what you see. Does that big book you were reading offer any advice on magical spots or haunted places in town?”
“Well, it did say the library was rumored to be haunted by the author’s great-great uncle.”
