Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
SILVANUS
His spine bent back so far I thought it would break.
“Paris!”
His eyes rolled back, the whites showing. I held him, kept him from falling, while his body temperature dropped by the second.
“Paris?”
His lips turned blue, mouth hanging open. The usual shining brightness of his aura dimmed. His fair, coral complexion lost its luster, taking on a gray, pallid hue.
Curse it. A darkness was strangling his beauty, removing him from this house, taking him somewhere I couldn’t reach. There was no song, no sharing in memories like before.
“What’s happening?” I asked him uselessly.
Bemused, I kept saying his name. Holding him, unsure of my next move.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. I’d brought him here for some peace, not this.
“I’m sorry,” I said, placing the back of my hand on his forehead.
So cold. So sweaty.
No matter where you run to, suffering will always trail behind.
Now was not the time for those thoughts. I had enough going on without this added kick to my fragile walls. The longer I sat with the terrible details, the more I risked unraveling.
I couldn’t allow that.
Strangely, being with Paris helped. I liked talking to him, despite our choppy relationship. He fascinated me, turned me on—that shine of his having touched something deep within me. An elf to distract myself with while I shirked my kingly duties for a while.
You are letting your people down…
“Paris?” I tried again, pushing back the encroaching fear. “I’m here. Follow my voice. Come back to me.”
Would he hear me?
“Follow my voice, Paris. Follow—”
“What are you doing?” he spoke suddenly, taking me by surprise.
I stroked his face. “Paris?”
His lips quivered, his throat bobbing. “What…what are you…what are doing?”
“Paris?”
He inhaled sharply as the Heart of All ached with desperation from every living vampire in existence.
My people called to me through the thing that bound us together, the thing that kept us all alive.
I collapsed onto my backside, their distress an aggressive current trapping me, reminding me of my responsibilities.
I’d been keeping their torment at bay, my past failures with Aidan now shared knowledge among us. Their pleading energy constantly flowed into me through the Heart of All, seeking comfort from their king. And I’d come here, unable to face them. A cowardly move indeed.
I glanced down at the red veins spreading out from the pulsating ruby in the center of my chest. Sharp, stabbing pains assaulted every bone around the precious jewel.
I’m sorry…
I sent waves of reassurance through it, knowing it wouldn’t be enough.
Paris drew another breath, releasing a long sigh as if he were blowing out his cig smoke.
I scrambled back to him, holding him carefully. “Follow my voice,” I said again, a crack in my tone.
I couldn’t stay here. I had to speak with my people.
“I have to go,” I told the freezing elf. “Please come back.”
A thought hit me. Caer had told him there was something else inside him. Something linked to his crystal dagger and the resurrections.
An unknown presence.
He moaned, his forehead creasing.
“Paris…”
My goodness, this elf. This beautiful, complex elf dipped in brightness and grief. A curiosity and a hindrance, a man who’d killed my dear friend Layla as well as Rylan, a staple vampire in my court. Their loss forever tainted the Heart of All, never to be filled again.
I should hate him for that, yet I struggled to. He went beyond mere loathing.
Curse these feelings. I shook my head, releasing a growl of frustration.
“You have to come back!” I snapped. “Come back, Paris!”
Nothing happened.
The call of my people grew stronger, clawing at my ribcage. They needed me. Now. But I couldn’t leave him. He’d have to come with me, which meant moving him. He was so rigid, his spine still bent.
The Heart of All yearned, my chest a tight ball of squirming thorns.
“Please come back,” I implored him.
The faint shape of a rippling doorway appeared a few feet away from me, Medusa stepping through it seconds later.
Relief hit me like an uppercut. “Thank goodness.”
My snake shifter friend, her ochre skin half covered in emerald scales, approached me, concern etched all over her face.
“What happened, sugar?” She crouched beside me, her unblinking amber eyes flashing at the elf. “Is his body meant to bend like that?”
I winced from the rapid rise in desperation within the Heart of All.
“And why is his penis on view?” she added.
Goodness me! I told her what’d happened while covering his dignity with my hand.
Respectfully, she kept her eyes on me, tucking a strand of sleek brown hair behind her ear. “Your people need you.”
Tell me something I don’t know. “I can feel it.” Scarlet light painted her body, the Heart of All growing in brightness as it pulsated harder.
Thump, thump, thump, thump. An endless drum of anxiety, and too much to ignore.
“I’ll stay with him,” she offered, getting to her feet.
Immediately, I rebuked her suggestion. “I can’t leave him.”
“He’ll be safe here with me,” she countered softly.
I stroked the side of his face, unreasonably drawn to him, the honeyed taste of his blood and the saltiness of his semen lingering on my tongue.
Special.
So special.
And a killer…
“Silvanus?” Medusa said.
I can’t take my eyes off this executioner. “Yes?”
“Put him on the sofa and go to your people.”
Her words skewered me with reality. There was nothing like a friend to be the tonic you needed to clear your focus.
“Alright,” I said.
She gave me some space, striding into the kitchen.
“I’m sorry I have to go,” I told Paris.
Why was I doing this? Sexual contact was one thing, but these feelings were another. We were supposed to be enemies on mute, nothing more. The best we could hope for would be a friendship. Possibly. Definitely not this messiness.
A line had to be drawn here, no matter how good he tasted.
That line has already been crossed, my mind threw back at me.
A spiral of thoughts, or grief, and the pull of my people attacked at once, landing blows, summoning a wicked ache in my skull.
No more. No more. No more. No more.
They pushed me harder, joining forces in one constant pounding.
No more. No more. No more. No more.
Pleading, pleading, pleading. Paris, my brother, my broken memories, none of them letting up, pushing me to the point of—
“Enough!” I bellowed, shattering the spiral.
For a moment, I was granted a reprieve. Catching my breath, I gathered myself together.
Until the pleading crept back in.
I’m coming!
Carefully, I pulled the elf’s underwear and jeans back up his legs, then placed him on the sofa. I secured cushions under his back, then traced my thumb across his lips.
“Come back, Paris.”
He remained cold and rigid. If it wasn’t for his shallow breaths and the sound of his pulse drumming in my ears, I’d think him dead.
Rather than mull over this, I tore away from him.
“Take care of him,” I commanded Medusa with booming authority.
“You know I will,” she responded.
I stepped outside, hit by a strong gust of wind. It lifted my hair, the cold instantly sharpening my mind.
Taking to the air, I flew west for my palace, millions of pained voices wrapping me in a cocoon of sorrow.
I’m coming.
I’m coming to make everything better.
“If only,” I spoke into the night.