Chapter 5 Aurora
I straightened, blinking frost from my eyelashes as Radu’s bedroom materialized.
The familiar olive walls, the cherry wood bookshelf lined with dog-eared volumes, the desk cluttered with maps and reports, all flickered in warm candlelight.
My stomach lurched, still rebelling against the passage through Chronoportal.
“That was…” I swallowed, willing my insides to settle, “efficient.”
The air still carried traces of our last encounter, and his scent was so thick it made my fangs ache. Somewhere in the house, muffled voices carried heated conversations—Selena yelling at Terraknight about how he’d handled me during the bloodlust.
Shame burned through me. I needed to apologize to Hummingbird. To all of them, for what I’d done.
Then, a map atop a pile of papers caught my attention, and I stepped further into the room. Tactical formations marked in Radu’s elegant cursive handwriting, terrain sketches that looked like they’d been drawn from memory.
“Your portal points are too predictable,” I said, studying the battle plan spread between stacks of reports. It was a standard ‘hammer and anvil’ approach. He as the hammer, the guild as the anvil. The outliers positioned in a defensive arc behind him.
Radu’s eyebrow arched as he pulled the cover from his bed. “Excuse me?”
“Here.” I traced his three X’s marked on the map. “You’re thinking linearly. Strike the center, push outward. But what if we used multiple insertion points?”
He handed me the thin throw from his bed to cover myself, then moved to stand beside me. His warmth felt good against my chilled skin. I sketched new positions with my finger.
“Portal here first, draw their attention. With my Blood Manipulation, we can turn their front line against their own rear guard. While they’re confused, you portal to their flank. Here.” I tapped the map. “Strike their command structure.”
“The coordination timing would be impossible.”
“Not with my magic.” I traced connecting lines between positions. “I can sense every Stalker in my range. I coordinate when you portal, when the outliers advance, when enemies turn on each other. It’s like conducting an orchestra instead of playing solo.”
Radu studied my modifications, brow furrowed in concentration. “Multi-point strikes. Staggered timing.” He paused, then nodded appreciatively. “That’s actually brilliant. Where did you learn formation strategy?”
“My father. He used to quiz me on historical battles against Solanthia while the ladies at court learned embroidery. Said a future queen needed to understand war, not just politics.”
“What was your favorite campaign?”
“The Night Attack at Targoviste. He faced an army fifty times his size, so he struck their camp at midnight from multiple points. Created chaos and confusion until the Ottomans didn’t know who was enemy or ally.
” I pointed to my revised formation. “Same principle. Let them think they know where you’ll strike while your real attack comes from unexpected angles.
Terror and confusion can defeat superior numbers.
” I gave him a pointed look. “Patience being something you could work on.”
“And you could work on not being such a know-it-all, princess.” But he was grinning as he said it, dimples making an appearance, and when I laughed, something changed in his expression.
“What?” I asked, suddenly self-conscious.
“Nothing. Just… you should do that more often.”
“What, correct your battle tactics?”
“Laugh like that. Like you’re not performing for anyone.”
Heat crept up my neck. Before I could respond, he marched towards the bathroom, only to come out a moment later with a wadded cloth pressed against the cut in his chest. Every muscle and sinew rippled as he dabbed at the wound.
I clenched my fists and willed myself not to breathe him in.
Silver hair tumbled over his forehead, mussed like he’d just rolled out of bed.
Glorious didn’t begin to cover it. Bronze skin gleamed like gold in the candlelight.
My gaze followed the dark blond hair dusting his chest, trailing it down past his waistband like an arrow pointing straight to forbidden territory.
Territory I’d recently visited but hadn’t fully mapped in our passionate haste.
I dragged my gaze upward and found him watching me. The amber-rimmed eyes, flecked with red, burned with barely leashed hunger.
His full lips curved in that arrogant smirk I knew too well. “See something you like?” Rough and velvet, his voice sent a shiver down my spine. I fought the reaction and focused on the angry gash across his chest.
The wound looked fresh, which made no sense. Radu was immortal, but even if he hadn’t been a pureblood, albeit only half, he’d consumed my blood. It should have accelerated his healing.
Making my way to him, I raised a hand to his chest and ‘accidentally’ pressed too hard against the tender flesh.
A sharp hiss escaped his lips. “Careful, princess,” he warned, though there was a dangerous edge to his tone that wasn’t entirely pain.
“Oh, did that hurt?” Pettiness, thy name is Aurora.
I trailed the carved ridges of his abdomen with the sharp tip of my fingernail. Muscles jumped beneath my touch as I applied more pressure, leaving a faint pink line in my wake.
His body’s response left me pleasantly surprised and more than a little excited. The quickening of his breath, the blown-out pupils, the unmistakable bulge growing beneath those leather pants.
Let him suffer a little.
Radu clamped a hand around my wrist just as my fingertip traced the sharp V leading down to his leather band.
“That’s one thing I want to talk to you about,” he growled, a salacious warning glimmering across his handsome face. “If you could stop touching me like that… we might actually get somewhere.”
His other hand moved to work the buttons. My heart rate spiked.
“What are you doing?” I stammered and yanked my arm free.
Keen eyes tracked down my body and fixed on where I’d knotted the throw between my breasts. His smile was devastatingly wicked, all gleaming teeth and predatory intent. “Don’t tell me you’re suddenly shy.”
He slipped his thumbs into the top of his pants, holding my gaze as he pulled them down. Buttons popped free, one after another, slowly, tantalizing, revealing where those fine dark-blond hairs thickened and darkened below his navel.
He wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
I groaned internally. Of course he wasn’t.
“Stop that.” The heat in my cheeks could have set the curtains ablaze. “We’re supposed to be talking.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” he drawled, somehow making the inoffensive words sound utterly indecent.
“I may have been living in this shithole for decades, but I still have my manners. What we’re about to discuss requires clean clothes and all this blood and gore off.
” He gestured broadly at the dark, crusty stains clinging to his pants and boots, including me in the sweep.
“But if you want to join me… there should be enough hot water for both of us.”
The rain had washed the worst of the filth, but I didn’t even want to think about what might be tangled in my hair after rolling across Brasov’s cobblestones.
Stalker bits. Ugh.
My mind warred between maintaining distance and giving in. But the blood and grime coating my skin made the decision easier.
“Trying to distract me?” I raised a brow. “It won’t work.”
“Won’t it?” His eyes gleamed in challenge. “Then those hard nipples have nothing to do with it and everything to do with the temperature in the room, right?” His grin stretched wider.
The arrogant bastard.
“Is that what this is about?” I retorted, crossing my arms. “You think a Blood Pact and some flattering words are all it takes to make me forget you lied to me? That you kept secrets that nearly killed me tonight?”
Radu’s smile dropped. “No. I think you deserve the truth. About the Voices. About what’s happening.
About me.” He took a step closer, and despite everything, I didn’t retreat.
“But I also think you should know what you’re getting into first.” His jaw muscles feathered as he seemed to struggle to say the last sentence. “You deserve the chance to walk away.”
I held his gaze, reading the truth there. He might be a liar, but in this instance, he meant every word.
“Fine,” I said at last. “You talk. I’ll listen. But I’m not joining you in that shower.”
“Afraid you won’t be able to resist me?”
I rolled my eyes, ignoring the fire spreading down my neck. “More like you drowning me to avoid answering my questions.”
Radu laughed, and it transformed his face, making him appear younger, less burdened. “Suspicious little thing, aren’t you?”
“Cautious,” I corrected. “And you still haven’t explained why that wound isn’t healing.”
His expression turned severe. “Because it’s not meant to.” He looked down at the cut and drew his eyebrows together.
I frowned too. “But why wouldn’t it—”
“Let’s get cleaned up first. Then we’ll talk. You have my word.”
“Your word doesn’t mean much these days,” I muttered.
I wanted to argue, to demand answers now, but I was filthy, sore, and mentally drained. A short delay wouldn’t matter.
Before I could react, he caught my waist and hauled me against his chest. It was like falling into a furnace, his heat wrapping around me from all sides. I melted against him when I should’ve stepped back.
“Turn around.” His voice a low command.
Against my better judgment, I obeyed. All the hurt and irritation I’d been nursing began to dissolve as he gathered my hair and swept it aside, exposing my nape.
Then his mouth was at my ear. “How does your head feel?”
Cautiously, he traced the area where the Nexus had been, and my knees almost buckled under his tender touch. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was grateful for his concern.
“Better,” I croaked and turned into him.