He’s quiet for a moment. Behind him, the night recedes farther to the west.
“That… isn’t true,” he whispers finally.
“It isn’t?”
“I have been wanting to see you again.”
My stomach flips.
“I wanted to apologize again for the way I acted… in the foyer.” His hands tremble, and he quickly stuffs them into his trouser pockets. “It was impolite of me.”
The foyer, the pending kiss, his body pressed against mine… Heat floods me as my mind takes the memory a step further. Suddenly, I’m seeing an image of the two of us laying in a bed, bodies naked and tangled in acts of passion. His body hovering over mine, his lips capturing mine as we rock together…
I suck in a sharp breath to try and regain control of my wandering thoughts and wild libido. To remind myself of what his kind is capable of, I rub the bracelets around my wrists, making my raw flesh sting.
No matter how handsome and attractive he might be, it can’t hide the fact of what he is. A night-dwelling, blood-sucking demon. The damned.
Still, my pulse quickens as he steps closer.
Despite the truth repeating over and over in my head, something inside me yearns to feel his thick arms around me, holding me, promising me he’d take me away from here. It’s a worthless fantasy, I know, but I can’t help but want it. Desperately.
My mouth is dry. What is it about Avrum Brenin that makes me feel this way? And so conflicted?
Glancing away from him, my eyes go to the horizon again. “The sun…” I murmur, worry running rampant through me. My knowledge on his kind may be limited, but I know that they all seem to avoid the daylight and sun. It seems to be a weakness to them.
Avrum glances over his shoulder. “We should go inside. Lord Henri wanted you back before dawn.”
There he is again. Henri. He always seems to wiggle his way into any situation, even when he’s not around.
Sighing, I give in, and together we walk toward the manor in silence. When we reach the back doors, I look back to the lake one last time.
As if it can no longer be contained, the sky ignites with fiery colors, and the sun lifts its head over the black lake. I draw in a shaky breath, taking in the beauty of it all. A flicker of warmth touches my cheeks. I revel in it for those few seconds before the doors finally close behind me, cutting off the light, and I enter the night once again.
Avrum
Iwalk down the hallway on stiff legs. The dull thuds of heeled shoes on a carpeted floor tells me that Haven is still following close behind. It does little to muffle the sounds of her rapidly beating heart or her quick breathing, though, and those are the things that captivate me the most because they reveal two very important things to me. One, she doesn’t want to be here—she’s terrified to be, actually. And two, she doesn’t want to be here withme.
Silently, I curse myself. Despite my best efforts, I’ve made her uncomfortable again, and I hate myself for it. Why is speaking to her so hard?
I look over my shoulder.
As she walks, her eyes stay downcast, more interested in her feet than anything else. Today, she wears a pale blue, cotton dress that hangs loosely around her slender frame.
I think of when I had found her near the lake’s edge with Keagan and Cornelius hovering over her like two hungry dogs. The moment I’d seen them touch her, my blood boiled. How dare they lay a hand on a woman, especially one under Lord Henri’s care? They knew Henri’s orders, yet intentionally disobeyed them. They need to be put in their place, and I will make sure of it the moment I see Henri.
With every step up the stairs, I’m tempted to turn around and ask Haven the questions that are hovering on my tongue. What is it that made her want to leave here so badly? Why does she act so coldly towards Henri? Is she really afraid? Has something happened to her that I should know about?
Then there are the questions I’m constantly asking myself. Like, why can’t I stop thinking about her? And why do I care so much?
I don’t have answers for any of them.
At the top of the staircase, we face a hallway where every bedroom door is closed. With dawn rising, most ofour kind are asleep now, and a hush has settled over the manor because of it.
I peer at Henri’s door at the end of the hall, where the bronze crow is hung frozen in mid-flight. The two guards that normally stand outside Henri’s door during the day are not at their posts yet, meaning that Lord Henri is still awake.
As I get closer, I notice that the door is cracked open. Light tries to push through the sliver, but a shadow moving inside the room snuffs out the stream.
“Avrum?”
