Prologue
Just one more blissful second, and I’d end this madness.
I’d somehow find the strength to pull my lips away from the charming stranger who’d seemed to appear in my employer’s library as if out of nowhere, his dark, good looks reminding me of the dashing swashbucklers from the old black and white movies I’d seen.
He asked me about the books I was reading.
Usually shy and brittle around strangers, I answered him, and somehow that had led to this sweet, frenzied meeting of lips and tongues and bodies.
With each kiss comes another failed promise to myself, every brush of the stranger’s lips contributing to a growing hunger that I don’t know how to deny. As if from afar, a loud screech echoes through the library, but my senses are too caught up with the man holding me in his arms to heed it.
The stranger pulls back, and my arms greedily cling to him, unwilling to let him go. “Sorry, luv, but that’s my cue to depart.”
Too late, I register what the screeching sound is. It’s an alarm set to go off if the magical wards around my employer’s home are breached.
“It’s your fault, really.” He gives me a wink. “I would have had more than enough time to get away clean with my treasure.” His eyes survey my kiss-swollen lips. “Until I spotted a better one.”
“You’re a thief?” I cry out.
“A proud one,” he acknowledges. He looks at my stricken face. “Don’t worry, luv. The vamp you work for is a friend of mine.” He shrugs his shoulders slightly. “Or at least a frenemy of mine. This is all just a little game we play.”
“A game?” I repeat his word shrilly, suddenly feeling like a na?ve pawn. The sweetness of his kisses now tastes bitter on my lips.
The alarm becomes shriller. The stranger reaches out, and before I can step away, the back of his hand caresses my cheek. “I’ll see you again,” he promises, and then, within the blink of an eye, the stranger is gone and the alarm goes quiet.
I look around the empty library. Was this just a fevered dream of a lonely scholar?
Then I spot the open window. I rush to it and look out. There is nothing to see but clear, blue skies and the flocks of birds that are taking advantage of the seasonably warm fall day, perching themselves on the eaves of the neighboring building to soak up the sun.
I close the window, and something flutters to the ground. I kneel and pick the object up to examine more closely. It’s a lone raven’s feather.