The door of the castle opens to reveal a male standing just inside, his body large and imposing in the shadows.
My lips part.Is that…?
The video ends, and I suddenly feel like weeping. I was so close. Only, not close at all.
Because I’m sitting at a table in Bra?ov.
With a stranger holding a phone.
A stranger who has actually been to Negru Castle.
Because some of those video panoramas included him smiling at the screen like a selfie before refocusing on the immense scenery.
“Believe me now?” he asks, arching a silver-blond brow.
“Who are you?” I whisper, unable to keep the awe out of my voice.
“Marius Scaevola,” he replies, holding out his hand. “And you are?”
Completely captivated, I think, reaching out to place my palm against his. Fortunately, I don’t utter that aloud. Instead, Isay, “Vivi Dalca.” I stare at him, our hands joined in an awkward shake. “How soon can you take me to Negru Castle?”
“Shouldn’t you ask me about costs first?”
I shake my head. “You take me there and you can name your price.”
“A dangerous prospect.”
“The heart of my research is a dangerous obsession,” I tell him.Or a dark obsession, anyway. “Tell me when we can leave, and I’ll be ready.”
CHAPTER TWO
CIPRIAN
“I can’t believe that worked,”I mutter as Marius joins me in the shadows outside Viviana’s hotel.
“I told you it would,” he drawls, taking the phone from his pocket. “She liked the video.”
My eyes threaten to roll, but I’m too focused on Viviana’s window to allow my gaze to move. “I want that video destroyed.”
“After I escort your little researcher to your doorstep, I’ll happily toss this into an open fire,” he tells me, holding up the phone for me to see one more time before slipping it back into the pocket of his gray slacks. “She might want to watch it again in the car.”
“Fine.” I don’t say anything else about it, just watch as the light flickers off in her room. “You’re not charging her for the tour.”
“No, I intend to charge you instead,” he says.
I’m again tempted to look at him but can’t shift my focus away from my quarry. Her scent is like a fucking drug. I inhaled it shortly after she arrived in Bra?ov, the blood-orange citrus swimming in the wind and taunting my inner beast.
Gods, she smells better than I could ever have imagined. It makes me wonder why I waited for her to come to me.
Fuck, I should have gone to her.
Dragged her out of her dorm apartment.
Taken her against a wall.
Made her fucking mine three very long years ago.
It feels like forever ago since that fortuitous night when my systems alerted me to her existence, sending me on a beautiful chase through the interwebs as I sought to learn everything about Viviana Dalca.
