Chapter Forty-Five #4
I couldn’t see him with my head resting on his chest, but I could imagine just how protective he looked in that moment. “It’s what the others will think if they find out. And they probably will, Raphael. I can’t always control it.”
“I know. So does Demos,” he said.
I stiffened. Raphael’s general knew?
“You used your magic on him, whether you knew it or not, one day when training.”
Thea had suspected as much. “He realized?”
“He did. He came to inform me right after, only for me to tell him I was already aware. He was…” Raphael paused, searching for the right term. “. . . displeased I hadn’t informed him. I forbade him from doing anything about it, especially since I suspected you had no idea what had happened.”
No wonder Demos had been wary of me after that. Raphael had kept all this a secret from me, but he’d also protected me. Was that enough?
I hoped so. There were so many problems, so many troubles tangled around us, but I didn’t have it in me to face them tonight. Maybe it was weak, but all I wanted was to stay in Raphael’s arms.
A yawn bubbled out of me as I curled into his chest. “It’ll be dawn soon. We won’t make it back to the castle before the sun is up.”
“Then we’ll stay out here. It’s shaded enough. Like we did before.”
When we’d been traveling through the Witch Kingdom.
“Demos will wonder where we are.” Likely he’d hate me even more.
If he knew I was the necromancer, that explained the animosity.
If anything, it was a surprise he had been half as relaxed around me as he’d been, considering he knew I was the enemy of all vampires.
“Let Demos wonder. He and Larissa can spend all day looking for all I care.”
I lifted my head to frown at Raphael. “What is with you and Larissa?”
It was hardly our biggest problem, but he’d made several comments by now. My mind raced through options. Was she some former lover? I’d never given much thought to Raphael’s history, but now something dark clawed me at the thought of another person getting to experience him like this.
Raphael frowned back, as if he’d hoped I wouldn’t notice the petulant comment. “I don’t like how she looks at you.”
I tried to think back, but she’d only ever been friendly to me. “How’s that?”
“Like she could have you, if you’d let her. Like there’s a chance you might let her.”
“It’s not like that.” She was barely a friend.
“It’s not,” he agreed. “Because I’m a selfish bastard, and you may not be mine, but I won’t let you be anyone else’s.”
Darkly possessive words, said with the cadence of a joke.
But I wasn’t even remotely fooled. Something about them warmed me all the same.
For so long I’d belonged to no one. And I had little ground to protest, considering how jealous I’d just been at the thought of her being a former lover of his.
I let it go with a slight eye roll. “You made a scene at the masquerade over me dancing with another male.”
“I did? You jumped off a roof to get away from me,” he countered.
“You slammed a foreign king into a column—no, not just a king. Your brother!” I hadn’t even had time to process the fact that Julian was Raphael’s brother. He’d never even alluded to their relationship.
Raphael grimaced. “That’s family for you. Can’t live with them, can’t throw them into columns without risking an international incident.”
I huffed. “I can’t believe you’re joking about this. I have so many questions about that.” Exhausted as I was, I had no clue where to begin in my list of questions.
Silence for a beat, then— “For the record, I didn’t throw him into a column for dancing with you.”
I let the silence speak my skepticism before responding. “I could feel your emotions. I thought I was going to vomit. You clearly didn’t like me dancing with him.”
“It wasn’t just the dancing.” His throat bobbed.
“You were in his arms, laughing and smiling. You and I had fought, with you declaring this was nothing more than a dalliance to you, and all I could do was watch as he had his arms around you with no intent of letting you go. Then he kissed you, and all I could think was I had your lips just earlier and lost you.”
I winced. “He didn’t even kiss me, you know. He pressed his lips to the side of my mouth. It was all a ploy to provoke you.”
“Did you want him to kiss you?” he asked.
“Well, no.”
“Then let’s leave it at me doing it because he touched you like that without your consent.”
I snorted. Sure. And next I’d plan a vacation in the eighth hell because it was known for its relaxing herbal teas. “Congratulations. It was part of a bet your brother was using to rile you up. One that earned us a dinner with him before we can go.”
If that was the least of the consequences of tonight’s disaster, I’d send a special prayer to Lixa as thanks for our good luck.
He groaned, and I chuckled. The sound was almost boyish.
“Brothers, huh?” I murmured.
“Indeed.” He moved an arm away, reaching for something. A moment later, his thick suit jacket slid over me. I hadn’t even realized it had come off in the fray. The fabric smelled like him, engulfing me as he tucked me against his chin. “Sleep, my sweet viper. I’ll keep watch.”
And because I knew he would, I shut my eyes and let the sleep take me.