But also more right.
We walk out of the Whitley together, side by side, not touching.
The night air hits my face as we step outside. Cool, damp, smelling of the city. Real. Grounding.
"Three out of four," I say quietly. "That's a victory."
"It's a start."
We get in the car. The driver pulls away.
Maximus's hand finds mine in the darkness of the back seat. His fingers intertwine with mine. His thumb strokes across my knuckles in slow, deliberate circles.
It's not enough. After everything tonight, after the tension and the fear and the desire simmering beneath every moment, I want more. I want his hands on me, his mouth on me. I want to finish what we started.
But Vivienne's words echo in my head:
Almost as if it were planned.
You're going to be very important before this is all over.
I just can't decide if that's good news or bad.
I stare out the window at the city lights, and I wonder if I'll ever know the truth about what I am.
Or if finding out will destroy everything I've built.
Maximus's hand tightens around mine. A silent message.I'm here. Whatever comes.
I hold on.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
The car stops in front of the compound, and Celeste hasn't spoken in twenty minutes.
Her hand is still in mine. Has been since we left the Whitley, my thumb tracing slow circles across her knuckles while the city slid past outside the windows. But somewhere in the last few miles, the charged silence between us shifted. I watched her retreat into herself, shoulders turning toward the window, gaze fixed on nothing, her other hand drifting to the ring at her chest. Processing.
Vivienne's words landed exactly where she intended them to.
But that's not all I'm thinking about as I watch her in the dim light of the car's interior. I'm also thinking about what I said to her at the Whitley.When we get back to the compound, I'm going to take this dress off you. Slowly.The words hang between us, a promise I fully intend to keep. But the woman beside me isn't the same fierce creature who made me say them. Something has dimmed in her since Vivienne's insinuations.
And yet I can't stop noticing the way she looks in that dress. The way the fabric clings to her body. The exposed skin of her back that I've been touching all night. The ring glinting gold against her chest, rising and falling with each unnecessary breath.
I've been half-hard since she walked down those stairs hours ago. The ache has only intensified as the night wore on, watching her hold her own against vampires much older than her, watching every lord in that room realize exactly what she is. What she is to me.
And when I pinned that guard to the wall, when I nearly killed him for what he called her, I saw the way her eyes darkened. She wasn't afraid of what I'd done.
She was aroused by it.
The memory makes my grip tighten on her hand.
The driver opens my door, and I force myself to release her. Step out into the night air. The compound is quiet. Marcellus has the security teams on high alert, but they're positioned at the perimeter, out of sight. The main house looks almost peaceful, lights glowing warmly behind curtained windows.
I round the car and open Celeste's door before the driver can reach it.
She looks up at me, and something in my chest tightens. The smoky makeup around her eyes has smudged slightly. The fierce warrior who held her own against four ancient vampires looks younger now. Uncertain.
