“Mates bond through physical connection.”
“Sex.”
I took another step toward her, close enough to breathe in her sweet scent. My fingers slipped through her hair again, enjoying the way she flinched slightly, overwhelmed by how easily Iunraveled her. How would it be in bed? What would she feel like beneath me? I took her chin between my fingers, tilting her head up.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” I murmured. “Don’t act like you’re unfamiliar with the word.”
She looked down, her cheeks reddening.Oh, she wasn’t familiar with it.
And somehow, I burned to teach her, to undo her carefully, gently, until every fragile piece of her body and soul would be ruined by me.
And I couldnotwait to invite her in the depths of a vampire’s desires, to bring the same tone that rested on her face now to other parts of her body. Her presence was surrounding me, her fire, her temptation, her light. All I could think about was how my breath was no longer mine—how it belonged to the space between us. To her. Making me want her, but also hating how weak it made me. And I knew she hated how much shedidn’thate me.
Chapter 8
I felt so restless. The night drowned me with emotions and too many truths unraveling all at once. Everything Sparrow and Xavier had shared turned my world upside down, making me question how I’d lived my entire life so blindly without knowing any of them, without even knowingmyself.
Xavier had insisted I take his bed. It was kind, gentlemanly even… but it only made the chaos inside me louder. Where was he sleeping, while I lay here wrapped in his sheets, inhaling the addictive warmth of his scent?
Despite the physical distance between us right now, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he looked at me. The way his touch caused a spark on my skin after he told me we were somehow bonded. I wanted to deny it, to laugh it off as nonsense … but I couldn’t. There was no way for me to deny how his presence pulled at me, how he stirred up strange emotions inside me. I felt foolish, to be drawn to someone this intensely… to someone I barely knew. And yet, I was wondering how his lips would feel against mine, or if his skin might ease the ache I felt in my chest when the world around me got too loud. Xavier didn’t make me feel like a stranger in Carnivalland. He felt too familiar, toomuch like a memory I couldn’t quite place, but he was open with me.
Even Xavier’s brother had opened up to me, talking about Nathaniel with me. And though he never said it outright to me, I felt the weight of what this person meant to him.
And in all of these moments, not once did they mention the name of Dandelion’s son. Why? And why hadn’t I asked?
The silk sheets felt soft against my skin, warming my cold body, and still I felt alone. Empty somehow. And in that emptiness, I found myself yearning for someone else.
My angel.
That night—I didn’t know why—but I yearned for him to caress my skin, to smell his scent. But he didn’t come. Not even when I whispered his name into the dark. I ached for him, for the comfort he once gave so effortlessly, for his smell that was grounding the storm inside me. But I also felt something I didn’t want to admit…
I longed for Xavier.
Some part of me wanted to wander the endless halls of the castle, knocking on each door until I found the one he was staying in and ask him—no, beg him—not to let me sleep alone. Just so I could feel something real. Something warm.Him.
What was it about him? Why did I react so intensely to the way he looked at me? Why did his presence feel like both a temptation and a relief?
Just as my thoughts began to spiral deeper into the depths of my mind, the soft click of the door opening pulled me back to the now.
Marielle stepped in, the scent of warm bread and something sweet drifted around the room as she placed a silver tray on my dresser.
“I thought you might be hungry,” she said. Her expression softened when she looked at me.
I sat up slowly, the sheets rustling around me. “Thank you,” I replied, though my voice came out quieter than I meant it to.
“You seemed far away,” Marielle stated gently. “I didn’t want to intrude… just thought breakfast was a good start for the day.” She leaned over to hand me a cup of tea, and a strand of her hair fell across her face. As she brushed it back, I caught a glimpse of her ears. The same delicate pointed shape Xavier had as well.
How could I have missed them? Was I so occupied with all the new things learned that I’d never glanced at Marielle’s ears? She wasn’t a human like me. She belonged tothem.
I took a sip of the tea, its earthy floral taste soothing me. The heat of it reminded me that I was here. Alive. Breathing. And not alone anymore.
“Have you shown Gwendolyn her new wardrobe?” I recognized this deep, sultry voice everywhere.
Xavier.
He wore a long black suit with fancy lace sleeves as if he was sprung from a dark fairytale, whispering promises of forbidden temptation and desires.
“Not yet, I put out the dress you got for her.”
