I turned back.
Malik stood directly before me.
I yelped, stumbling back, nearly tumbling down the stairs?—
His hand shot out, gripping my upper arm.
For a split second, my vision tilted—tiny stars danced at the edges of my mind, pulling me toward something dark, something infinite.
Come on, Olivia. Focus.
He held me still, his grip neither cruel nor gentle, just absolute. Once he seemed satisfied that I wouldn’t fall, he released me.
Then, he lifted his hand, trailing the side of his finger down my cheek.
I shuddered.
Something about him demanded attention. Not just his silence, not just his impossible movements—him.
His presence was an invisible force, pulling me in and warping the air around us.
I was staring at a masterpiece—a work of art sculpted with impossible precision, a face that seemed cruel and divine.
He was, in a word, stunning.
His shoulder-length hair fell in waves around his sculpted face, framing sharp cheekbones and a jaw carved by the gods. His eyes were hypnotic—a blend of the dusky blue at twilight’s edge and the deep green of moss-covered earth beneath ancient redwoods. A light shadow of beard growth dusted his chiseled jaw, accentuating the fullness of his lips.
The arteries in his thick neck pulsed with a steady rhythm, drawing me in.
Even his scent was a spell—petrichor heralding an oncoming storm, the distinct tang of a field crackling after a lightning strike.
I wanted to touch him.
To trace the hollow of his throat, the lines of his collarbone, the massive muscles coiled beneath his olive skin, radiating strength like bottled electricity. Every line, every impossible angle, invited exploration.
I wanted to strip away the knee-length coat, dark shirt, pants, and boots—everything the color of the night’s deepest shadows—and see what lay beneath.
His skin was smooth, unlined, and kissed by the sun, yet his eyes carried the weight of centuries.
He could have been nine hundred years old for all I knew. And yet, he looked no older than Roman.
An unreadable smile ghosted across his lips. His gaze softened, and when he exhaled, it was like a whisper of something ancient and tender wrapping around me.
The world fell away.
The quiet was all-consuming as if we had stepped beyond time into a place where nothing—and everything—existed.
We were nowhere.
We were everything.
We were?—
A growl tore from my throat, and I shook myselffree.
No.
This was a trick.
