Chapter 2
Two
Rowan
She is more exquisite up close. Not just something beautiful, but something powerful and commanding.
The last time I saw her supple cheeks and toned body, she was a fragile little human drowning in a lake. This girl that has stolen Kaius’ heart is now something else entirely. Something new. Something untamed and wild flows through her veins and beats in her chest, like a force begging to be freed.
The air is thick and pulsating around her. An aura dressed in ruin. It’s deliciously blended with confusion and desire wrapped up in a body that doesn’t quite know how to handle what it’s become yet.
The most obvious sign that she’s been kissed by magic is the tips of her fingers, turned black as night from Eternity’s rot.
She shudders when my breath caresses her skin as I whisper my name. I can hear her strange heart thump wildly in her chest, but she does not flee. I was not made to be perceived as a threat. Even the most demon-fearing humans find it hard to resist the curiosity that stirs in them when they see me.
“Rowan,” she whispers back. Her eyes bounce around under her pretty lashes, examining my face. “Are you here to see Kaius?”
I scoff quietly. “Maybe I am, but you’ve piqued my curiosity. Why don’t you tell me about this dream of yours?”
She squeezes her eyes shut, and after a moment, she reopens them.
The blue irises that glow are disrupted by a harsh black cloud before returning to normal, and she seems to escape the spell she didn’t even know she was under.
She steps away from me, placing her back to the courtyard, forcing me to turn so that my back is to the palace I once called home.
I lean against the cold marble and cross my arms while I spread my wings to their full span, wide and high, showing her their grandeur in an attempt to recapture her attention. They glisten in the light of the sunset, shimmering iridescence that reflects both deep jewel tones and soft pastels.
She focuses her piercing gaze on them, and I ask again about her dream.
“Did you stare at me like this in your dream?” I mock.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Very bold of you to assume you were anything more than a passing face.”
“And yet I left an impression anyway, didn’t I?” She doesn’t answer. “You called me Cassius. Do I remind you of him?”
“Your eyes do,” she answers. “They’re a very particular shade of grey.”
“Ah,” I muse as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world. Then, I hold up my arm, and a glittering mist wraps itself around me. In a few breaths, the snake in question appears before us, raising his head in greeting to her.
Adelasia looks shocked. I give her an amused smirk. “He’s a loyal creature, isn’t he? Though, if you don’t fancy the grey eyes, we can change them to whatever you like.”
I blink, and both my eyes and Cassius’ flicker from grey to gold.
I blink again, and they turn from gold to green.
I blink again, and they change from green to purple, and then I wink at her.
“The ladies do love the purple eyes. Don’t you think it suits me?
” I ask as I brush the fingers of my free hand along my jawline.
“I prefer red, I think,” she says back, her jaw upturned in triumph as if her words have gotten under my skin.
“Oh, really?” I ask, then I take a step forward, and that glittering mist returns, surrounding my entire body and then fading.
Her mouth falls open when she sees that my wings are gone and I have transformed myself into an exact replica of her vampiric lover.
She’s only a few inches shorter than me, so I hinge at my waist to lean into her neck and lower my voice, lacing it with the subtle yet irresistible pull of an incubus in full form.
“Kaius and I were once very familiar. I think you’ll find that all of his…
physical traits are perfectly imitated.”
Her pupils dilate and her jaw slackens. She swallows slowly and takes a deep breath.
Her fingers twitch at her sides and I give her a knowing smirk.
She’s responding to the magic. She doesn’t even realize that I’m slowly learning to control her body—slowly easing my way into her without a touch. She can feel it, and so can I.
She blinks once, as if trying her best to escape from a fog. “You’re…doing something to me…”
“Yes,” I confirm, “But you like it. I can smell it.”
Her breathing stutters and then in a fraction of a second, she pulls herself out of the fog. I don’t expect her to strike me, and I expect it even less to send me into the harsh marble at my back, cracking it with my fortified bones.
“Don’t dare try to control me,” she warns, suddenly angry and cautious. That aura around her turns darker and more dangerous. “Why. Are you. Here? And do not play riddles with me.”
“Jealousy, mostly,” I admit as I brush dust from my shoulder and morph into myself once again.
She appears shocked yet untrusting of my answer.
“I have known Kaius for his entire life, both as a human and a vampire, and I’ve never seen someone so quickly unravel him.
Not even Yekaterina. And the other part of it?
Well, I’ll just say you’ll be seeing more of me in the coming weeks.
There’s a shift in the air. The Coven is angry, and Kaius alone cannot protect you from their wrath. ”
I let my wings draw in, slowly. Her eyes track their path even though I can tell she’s fighting to look away, and then she meets my gaze.
“I do not need nor want your protection. I do not know you and I do not trust you. Whatever your history is with Kaius has nothing to do with me.”
I tsk. “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. It has everything to do with me, because Kaius and I vowed to protect you with our lives.” I lift up the sleeve of my shirt to show her the golden line decorating my forearm.
She takes a deep breath and then a cautious step backward, as if she’s ready to run. “If what you’re saying is true, then prove it.”
I smirk and hold up my hand. She gives me a look of panic, because she knows what it means. She knows I’m willing to make my own vow with her. After a long breath, she begins to raise her arm to take my hand.
Just as her fingers graze my palm, the temperature around us shifts.
Steel fingers clamp around my neck with enough force to crack a mortal spine. I’m shoved to my knees, made to face the one man in this cursed world who still knows how to make me beg.
He’s still full of rage and cold, calculated restraint. He’s still my Kaius. Still beautiful. His eyes are full of crimson fire and as his fingers begin to clamp even tighter around my throat, I smile and choke out:
“Miss me?”