Chapter Twenty-Two
Dylan
DYLAN SWALLOWED A MOUTHFUL OF AMBER LIQUID, ITS alcoholic bite and syrupy scent burning the whole way down. He was more used to cheap shots and beer, even a decent glass of his father’s wines, than this. But he poured himself another anyway.
He knew Verin didn’t drink it. ‘Honestly, my boy? I just like the look of it,’ the Vampire had claimed when Dylan had asked him about the little trays of drinks about the house, considering he couldn’t digest human foods any more.
‘Tell me something about you,’ Dylan tried, turning to Callum.
The Empyreal arched a brow and glanced around as if waiting for a punchline.
He didn’t offer one, merely met Callum’s simmering gaze.
‘I’m intrigued. There. That’s something.’
Dylan couldn’t figure out this art conspiracy; he couldn’t even remember his own damn memories without breaking into a sweat. But getting tangled up in the lies and truths of Callum? This was something he could fight, could use to purge all this pent-up worry.
He needed another focus point or he was going to snap. And the lifeline he kept with sheer will had been strands away from dropping him into an abyss for weeks.
‘I mean something about you,’ Dylan said. ‘Is your real name Callum?’
‘What do you think?’ he asked, sauntering back to his seat.
‘If I thought it was, I wouldn’t ask.’
Callum’s eyes raked down him, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. ‘And your name isn’t Palmer.’
‘You don’t tell anyone anything, do you?’ Dylan realised.
Callum’s lips twitched.
Whatever this was, this charming immortal demeanour, it was hiding something deep. Perhaps far deeper than Dylan had initially suspected.
He moved closer and looked down to where Callum had reclined. ‘Why, when you know so much about me, would you not trust me with your secrets?’
‘Secrets are earned,’ Callum purred.
Dylan licked the alcohol off his lower lip. ‘No, they’re not.’
Callum’s eyes floated up from his mouth, and he rose, bringing them face to face. So close their hips aligned and the intoxicating scent of him made Dylan clamp his jaw shut.
This close, he was reminded of when they first met.
‘Aren’t you lonely?’ Dylan asked. ‘Keeping all these secrets?’
There it was.
A flicker of a wound in those immortal, unreadable eyes.
‘I’m never lonely,’ Callum murmured.
He was the one who was supposed to be thrown off, but Callum did this every time, managed to swerve the question around. The words made Dylan’s stomach curdle.
‘Liar.’
‘How about we discuss where that easy, surprisingly charming guy I met back in Estwood went?’ Callum said.
Dylan remembered it, like the ghost of a hot summer breeze.
The way he’d had his arm over the back of the banquette he and Callum had moved to that night in the Siren’s Wife.
The heat dancing in Callum’s eyes; the ease and anticipation in Dylan’s body.
The way he’d allowed some of the relaxation that had, despite Nicole’s worries, seeped into him with their years there.
But he couldn’t allow himself to be like that again. Not until this was over and they were safe.
‘He didn’t leave that bar,’ Dylan said.
Silence strung between them.
‘I’ve learned many things over a few thousand years,’ Callum began, voice newly intimate. ‘Like how to spot someone lying to themselves.’
‘Is that because of all your practice looking in the mirror?’
Callum laughed softly, the slight rasp raking claws down Dylan’s spine, returning the intense attraction, the quick fascination, and the infernal desire to know more.
How could he feel this for someone he couldn’t trust?
‘How about a walk?’ Callum asked.
Dylan blinked. ‘A walk?’
‘Mm. Around the grounds.’
The giant window reflected more of the luxurious interior than the dark estate or the prick of stars outside.
‘What’s one moonlit stroll with the person you’re determined to be enemies with?’
‘I don’t trust you.’
Callum smiled. ‘Good. Then you have a lick of sense. After you?’ He stood aside, eyes dancing with challenge.
Dylan let himself engage for a split second with the swell of Callum’s pupils, knowing damn well his own reacted the same way.
As if it wasn’t dangerous enough.
He wondered how to get Callum to answer his questions. If he could try and lessen the Empyreal’s impact on him with more exposure, to keep a clearer head and glean more information – all of that could start tonight.
‘Fine,’ he said.
But the word was drowned out by the sound of Bells’ scream.