“No, it came off Creed. What just happened?”
“I can’t tell you that. Not because I’m trying to keep it from you, but what just happened has everything to do with Creed’s role and his power. This…he never would’ve wanted you to see him this way.”
“He’s okay, though? That wasn’t his blood? He isn’t hurt?”
“Physically, he’s fine. That wasn’t his blood.”
His vague answers don’t go unnoticed, and my chest constricts more.
“I don’t understand.”
His face crumbles like I’m putting him in an impossible spot and that’s the last thing I want to do. I’m torn, though. I’ve never seen that look on Creed’s face. I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever seen that level of despair written across anyone’s features before.
My heart literally hurts as I replay his dark gray eyes shatter, turn white, then back repeatedly. It was like he was fighting himself for control.
And losing.
“I know and I’m sorry. I can’t explain this to you, though. He has to. When he’s ready.” I nod because I fully agree. I want to hear it from him, but that doesn’t lessen my concern.
His hand slides up my neck until he’s cupping my cheek.
“There’s so much about our past you don’t know and it’s not that we’re still trying to keep it from you. We just don’t…I worry once we find the courage to tell you, not only him, but all of us, you’ll want nothing to do with any of us.”
My lips part as I stare at him.
I caused this doubt. My freak-out put it in his mind that I’m going to judge them and hold their past over their heads. I haven’t said the first thing to ease those worries for him even after he told me his decision was made before we went to meet hisfather.
Make your decision, Thayla, and fucking stick to it.
“Kyzen…” I whisper, then take a deep breath. “I’m so sorry for my initial reaction to hearing who your father was. I let my fear take hold, which is a poor excuse, I know. There’s still a lot about my past I haven’t shared that would make my reactions more understandable, but just like all of you, I’m trying to work up the courage to talk about it.
“Regardless, I didn’t handle your truth very well, and I’m so sorry. I swear to you, no matter what you tell me, it won’t change the way I see you or the others. I’m not going anywhere, nor do I want to. I’m going to be here, right at your side. That’s my decision.”
The air in my lungs gets trapped in my throat when his breath fans across my lips. Chill bumps race down my arms and my hands tremble.
“Little goddess.”
Time truly stops.
Everything around me ceases to exist. There’s nothing rushed or hungry in the way he kisses me. He breaks through the barrier of my stunned frozen lips and every stroke of his tongue becomes consuming.
Minutes, maybe longer, pass us by as there’s nothing but him and the warmth spreading through my body.
An embarrassing whimper slips from my throat when he slowly pulls away from me and lays his forehead to mine.
“Fuck,” he breathes. “I knew you’d taste like forever.”
A breathy laugh, one full of an emotion I’m not at all familiar with, rushes through me. I raise my hands to tangle them in his shirt and pull him back to me, but the faint, dried red painted on my palms sends me spiraling back to reality.
My abrupt silence has him tilting his chin down toward my violently shaking fingers.
“Why don’t you go take a shower while I finish up in here? After that, we’ll go to the Athenaeum and see if Amick needs our help. He’s already pissy that he had to cancel the meeting with the High Chancellor and we’re skipping out on our responsibilities on day one of planning, so he’ll be thrilled to see us.”
He chuckles lightly and I search for the butterflies the sound always gives me. Right now, they barely lift their wings.
“Okay. I’ll be back out in a few,” I say, laying my cheek to his chest for a single comforting second.
His power slips from my skin the moment I step foot in my hallway.
