Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
SILVANUS
Barreling through the front door, I carried Medusa and Elio out of the burning house before my serpentine friend could summon a portal.
Fueled by a cocktail of adrenaline, fury, and heartache, I brought them to a safe distance as guards swarmed around me and the city alarms screamed.
They collapsed onto their backsides at the same time, faces grubby with soot.
I seethed, hungry for violence.
“Paris,” I said, sniffing the air.
Aidan will die a thousand deaths…
Medusa jumped up, taking me by the shoulders. “We have to get to Elio’s parents.”
The elf came up beside her. “In this state?”
I barely registered them, my concerns for anything other than Paris fading away.
“Where did he take him?” I questioned, studying the sky.
My friend shook me. “Silvanus, please.”
Hold on. Go to those elves without Paris?
“No,” I answered. “We need Paris first. He’s the one with the power.”
She sighed. “Then…then what do we do?” She wiped soot from her face.
My chest constricted. My friend was in distress, anguish gleaming in her lovely eyes.
I cupped her face. “I’ll find him. Go back to the palace.”
“But what about you?”
I looked to the guards spread across the hillside, emergency services crawling toward us by air and land to battle the fire.
“We’ve attracted too much attention,” I answered. “Go home. Wait for me.” I glanced at Elio. “Both of you. I can’t have you getting hurt.”
I noticed Elio’s throat bob.
Not this elf.
I want to see the other one. The shining one.
“Go,” I commanded. “Now.”
“I can’t let you do this alone,” Medusa protested.
What was I going to do? Fly across the world, scouring every inch of it until I found him?
Yes. Yes, I would. I had to. I needed him, and the world did too.
The future loomed as a curtain of doom, ready to fall, to smother me in sorrow. I couldn’t have that. Paris Raine had to live for me to kiss again. For me to hold, to smell, to be burned again and again by the beautiful ferocity of his spark.
My spark in the dark…
These feelings were a fool’s game for sure, but they were my feelings to bear, not for a monstrous deity to take away. He’d already stolen enough from me, broken my heart beyond measure. He wouldn’t have anything else. Not the world, not vampires, and not Paris.
Rage boiled inside me. The mere thought of losing anyone else tightened my muscles.
“Leave,” I demanded, voice throbbing with authority.
Medusa backed away. I didn’t mean to scare her, but time raced on ahead of us. This wasn’t up for debate.
She opened a portal.
“I will contact you once I find him.”
“Okay,” she answered, voice quavering.
Elio bowed his head in respect.
I watched them leave, letting wrath take me over while still granting me reasonable control.
Emergency services were almost here.
A guard approached me. “Majesty? Shouldn’t you be seeking shelter?”
Ignoring him, I took to the skies.
I will find you.
I will find you.
I will find you.