Her hand flew to her mouth as she struggled to hold back her gasp. They were in the clearing where they had trained all those years ago by the lake that separated their homes. The edge of the water was visible through the treeline, the soft breeze sending gentle ripples across the surface. It all looked exactly the same as it had back then, except the trees were much larger now, and the once clear ground was now full of flowers and plants with a stone path that led through the trees to the edge of the lake.
“Do you still live at the manor?” she asked him, turning to face where he sat on the bed watching her.
“No, although my brothers and I hold meetings there sometimes, and anyone from the World Court is free to stay there. I spend a lot of time in London, I’ve got a bed in my office in the headquarters. But my home is right here.”
Adriana glanced out into the stoned walls of the hallway that showed through to a living room with a kitchen attached to it,and two other doors that led to a bathroom and what seemed to be a study. It was a small cottage, and seemed to have been built a long time ago.
“You built this yourself, didn’t you?”
Xanded nodded. “I did. I started to clear the area and lay the foundations when we were engaged. I wanted to give us somewhere we could use to get away from everyone if we ever needed it, somewhere just for us.” He rose from the bed and came to stand next to her to look out the window, his eyebrows scrunched in thought as if trying to find the right words. “After… the attack, I finished building it and spent years here alone. I only ever saw Deion or Nicolai when they came to bring me blood. I’d refused it at first but then they promised they’d force it down my throat if I didn’t drink it.”
Xander tilted his head to look at Adriana, giving her a sad smile when he saw she was staring up at him.
“This was meant to be for us,” he continued. “And then it became my sanctuary of isolation for over forty years. I thought maybe it could be the same for you, while you gain your control again.”
Adriana suddenly realised how close they were standing when his little finger brushed against her hand. She tensed slightly, but she didn’t pull away as she turned her head to look out the window again, watching the birds fly through the trees towards the lake.
“I’m not sure how to control anything anymore,” she sighed. “I knew that seeing you, being near you, would make me lose it all over again. You are still my weakness, Alexander. And now I am dangerous because of it.”
The small smile that twitched his lips as she said his name did not escape her attention. She had not dared utter it for over a century. She had expected it to taste bitter on her tongue, but it was quite the opposite.
He continued to stroke her hand, slowly intertwining his fingers with hers. A warmth, unfamiliar yet recognisable, as if from another lifetime, radiated from their clasped hands and spread through her. Her mind screamed at her to pull away, to yank her hand from his grasp and reinforce that distance that had always been her shield. Every instinct honed over a century of self-preservation urged her to recoil, with a flicker of a darker impulse to inflict a pain equal to that which he had caused her.
But another thought, softer yet more persistent, began to surface. It was a deep, aching weariness, one that begged to be handled tenderly. One that told her that, even if just for a moment, she deserved to feel content. And so she couldn’t bring herself to pull away as his hand, the same hand that had destroyed her, slowly began to put her back together again.
“If I am your weakness,” he said, “then I must become your strength.”
Chapter twenty-three
The Balance of Magic
Adriana
Adriana hardly slept that night, her mind drifting to terribly dark corners and causing her to wake up drenched in sweat several times. She was just all too aware of the man sleeping on the sofa in the living room only a few feet away. It was as if every cell in her body screamed at her to run, but in which direction she did not know.
As the sun rose and all hope of sleep died out with the stars, she hauled herself out of bed, putting on the same jeans and shirt as the day before. Xander had brought her rucksack with him, but the majority of her clothes had been packed in Cass’ bag, with only spare underwear and socks in her own alongside two bottles of blood, a wad of cash, her necklace, and Striga’sTales of Daemonium. The thought of Cass brought a smile toher face as she wondered just how much hell she was putting Xander’s brothers through.
It seemed she hadn't been the only one who'd struggled to sleep, judging from how long she'd heard the shower running all morning. She’d wanted to jump in before getting dressed, but Xander had been in there for almost an hour, the sound of water splashing against bathroom tiles drifting through the cottage. They hadn’t spoken much during the evening before, choosing instead to eat the dinner he had cooked in silence. It had been tough to not look at him as they sat across the small table from one another, especially with his gaze weighing down on her the entire time.
Once they’d finished their food, Xander told her she would take the bedroom and he’d sleep on the sofa. Before she could even respond, he’d wished her a good night and busied himself with tidying the kitchen. She was thankful for it, his understanding that she needed some space, especially if they were going to survive under the same roof for a while.
“Adriana?” Xander’s voice called from the other side of the bedroom door, making her jump. She’d been too lost in her thoughts to realise the shower had stopped running. “Could you unlock the door?”
Adriana frowned as she realised she couldn’t even remember locking the door the night before. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t even know that I’d…”
Her words trailed off as she opened the door to find him standing before her wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. His dark hair hung in wet curls over his face, his beard freshly trimmed, and his chest damp with droplets of water.
“You locked it during the night,” Xander said, with a nod to the door. “You weren't completely awake when you did it.”
“Stalking my mind as I sleep again, are you? If you're going to keep me here, I think we're going to need boundaries.”
“I didn't mean to. Your thoughts kept calling out to me in your nightmares.”
They stared at one another for a while, Adriana still blocking the doorway as Xander stood there, the water dripping down his body begging for her attention. No, she couldn't. She wouldn't look, she wouldn't go there.
“I just came to get some clothes. There's coffee in the kitchen, and a few bottles of blood in the top right cupboard. You’re probably going to need it for today.”
Adriana's brow furrowed as she stepped aside to allow him through. She didn't like him talking about her feeding, it felt wrong. “Why? What's happening today?”
