“Can I ask you something, Osiris?”
He stared down at her, his eyes moving from hers down to her lips.
“Anything,” he said softly.
“Can you take off your gloves?”
17
OSIRIS
Osiris’ shoulders sagged as his eyes fell from hers. Still, he did not back away.
Give her a chance.
He called on Eddy’s words.
Eleanor had not run or brandished a weapon against him since their earlier confusion.
Here she is, offering me her trust. Coming close to me, tainting my senses with her vanilla scent and her cinnamon eyes, trusting that I will not hurt her. I must offer a token of my trust as well, shouldn’t I?
Osiris watched Eleanor as he lifted his hand, pinching the end of his glove with his fingers, pulling it off slowly.
Eleanor kept her eyes focused on his hand as his shadows began to lift, the long-darkened tendrils twirling in the open space between them. They continued to grow, reaching the ceiling before they descended on his human woman.
Osiris’ eyes danced between Eleanor and the shadows as they began to wrap around her waist and snake around her ankles. She took a slight step back, raising her arms as she peered down at them.
I knew it.
Guilt began to melt over his heart, hardening like metal as the shadows gripped her hips. His senses began to fill with onlyher. Her feel, her touch, her scent, just her.
It is disgusting. It is monstrous. It is—
“Interesting,” Eleanor whispered.
“What?” Osiris asked, taking a step closer, following the pull of his shadows, relief soothing his nerves.
Eleanor laughed softly. “How interesting,” she repeated, looking up at him. “They act as if they have a mind of their own.”
Osiris chuckled. “Well, they do most times. It can be challenging when our minds disagree.”
Eleanor reached down, running her hands across the shadows wrapped tightly around her hips. Electricity coursed through him anywhere she touched, beckoning his shadows to tighten, to pull her closer.
It took every fiber in his body to not fall victim to his own shadows.
Why am I acting like this?
“How long have you been able to do this?” she asked, dipping her fingers between two tendrils as another laced around her calf.
Osiris shrugged his shoulders. “I… don’t know. Ever since I lost my head, my memories seem faded, as if lost in an endless fog.”
Eleanor’s eyebrows knit together as her head shot up to look at him. “You had a head once?” she asked excitedly.
Osiris laughed again, his shoulders shaking as he nodded his head. “Yes, I did. Just like you do now.”
More pink crept onto her face as the corners of her mouth quirked up. “Of course you did, I am sorry, that was probably insensitive.”
“Not at all, Eleanor. If it makes you comfortable around me, please do not stop asking questions. Though, I might not always be able to answer them.”
