Chapter 35
I’m practically skipping to the dining hall, intoxicated by the smell of thin dough smothered in nutty chocolate spread with heart berries, fluffy egg cakes baked in crusts, and mouth-watering bacon on the breeze.
I quickly make my way through the tables of the dining hall, filling my plate with one of everything and a large pile of bacon for Pip and I to devour.
The hairs on my neck dance, and I know all too well who’ll be getting in the way of my attempted quick retreat to my new quarters. The scent of amber and spruce fills my lungs as I sigh.
“Already sighing, and you haven’t even looked at me yet. How disappointing.” I can hear the wicked smile on his lips as he says those last words far too close to my ear.
“I’m hungry and don’t have time for your theatrics this morning.” I swat his voice away from my ear like the gnat my mind needs him to be.
“I can’t help but linger when you look positively ravishing, covered in the darkness of soot.” His smoky voice tickles the back of my neck as a finger runs down my upper spine.
I fight the weakness in my knees and spin around to face him.
“Your reckless flirting is going to get us in trouble. Now fuck off.”
“Will it? I’d love to discover each and every part of this trouble you speak of.” I loathe the way I’d love to bite the devilish smirk right off his face, while my lips savor far more than they should dare to.
Ice-blue eyes lazily prowl over my sweat-drenched body. His hand reaches for my face, arctic irises locking onto mine as he tucks a loose strand behind my ear. My fist clenches, trying to trap the shudder as my body vibrates beneath his Celestials be dimmed fucking touch.
“I was just admiring the marvel of this new blade that stole you away from me for more than a whole day.” His voice has a far too irresistible tone for me to trust him as he cocks an eyebrow at me, awaiting my challenge.
“Dream Singer couldn’t steal me away from you when I am not yours to be stolen from.”
“Aren’t you, though?” He snickers, as if knowing something I don’t.
My blood heats beneath his words, and I’m not sure if it’s lust or fury.
“You’re clearly delusional. Maybe you should see if Kivi can unscramble that shadowy mess of a brain of yours.”
He leans in close, nostrils flaring, seeming to enjoy the scent of soot and sweat lingering on my body before he turns around with a wicked laugh.
I don’t have time to chase after him and demand to know what he’s going on about. My stomach’s growling, and I’m starting to feel faint. I grab a giant glass of honeycrisp cider and march through the hallways. I twist my fingers along the parchment scroll, enchanting it to lead me to my new room.
The scroll guides me to the northernmost point of the diamond-shaped courtyard, up a golden spiral staircase, until I arrive on the top floor.
Before me stands an arched doorway made of a stunning iridescent starstone.
It’s carved with a scene of the night sky.
In beautiful script, ‘Starlight Sanctuary’ is scrolled into the stone, a word for each door.
The starstone groans as I push through, my breath slipping from my lungs. The square room is open-format, framed with indigo nightstone beams. The ceiling is nothing but glass, so you can see the endless night sky.
Two large doorless openings, cleaved by a corner beam, sway with white gossamer curtains, framing two open balconies.
One faces west with a seating area and a glass-vaulted greenhouse.
The northern balcony has a large, oval heated pool in midnight blue, surrounded by various planted palms and deep-blue bioluminescent flowers.
White marble with gold veining waterfalls down the one solid wall on the east of the room, spilling out across the floor like streams of gold carving through snow.
A slash of indigo carves up the pallid space—an oversized four-poster bed, wrapped in midnight silk sheets, dusted with nebulas of the night sky.
Each beam flows with dreamy chiffon curtains.
Along the small wall before the opening to the bathing space are two adjacent armoires.
One of white wood, carved with the phases of the moon, and the other of Midnightwood, etched with constellations of the night sky.
In the opposite corner of the room sits an oversized copper bathtub, overlooking the perfect vista of the northern mountains. Kitty-corner to the tub is a table for two and a magenta velvet reading chaise with a gold table next to it.
I plop the food down on the table, scarfing what I can before fighting Pip for the last bit of bacon. Which I, of course, let him have. Pip pounces on the bed, stretching out into a puddle of orange, fat and happy. His purring fills the room as I saunter over to the shower.
There are three different shower heads in a large shower tiled in deep blue. The ceiling is speckled silver, twinkling stars peeking through the tendrils of steam. I lather on my favorite soap of jasmine and eucalyptus, spirals of soot swirling away.
Finally clean, I wring out my hair, stepping out to wrap myself in a towel. Next, it’s time to indulge in a soak. I make my way towards the copper bathtub big enough for two with the perfect view of the Dragon Spine Mountains.
Every cell in my body stills at my unexpected view.
None other than S?las is lounging on the chaise. One arm draped across the back, the other swirling an amber-colored Smokewhisper libation in a short glass.
Wickedness curls up at the side of his full lips, eyes tracing every line of my body. With the heat of the shower on my skin, it must have blunted my sensation of his arrival.
“What the fuck are you doing in my room?” I snap, trying to mask my shock with anger.
“Your room?” he purrs with devilish delight.
“Yes, my new room. Get out,” I hiss.
“I think you mean our new room?” His purr deepens, rumbling within his chest like a mountain cat.
“Oh, I most certainly do not,” I snarl, ready to slap that smug grin off his face.
“Oh, you most certainly do,” he parrots.
“Get out!” I howl.
“Make me.” The stupidly beautiful twist of lips quickly falls as I reach for Dream Singer.
“Hey, hey, hey. Easy does it with that thing. I can feel the power radiating off it from across the room. She’s as beautiful as her creator.” He winks.
Oh, he definitely knows how to press my buttons.
“I will show you just how beautiful she is when she sings dripping in your blood.”
“As intimate as you dare to make that sound… that’s not on my agenda for tonight.
” He pauses, running his hand through his raven hair, the violet more vivid in the sunlight piercing through the glass ceiling of the penthouse.
“Didn’t the fact that there are two sinks and two dressers here give you a clue that this room is meant for two? ”
“Well, yes. The room is meant to be shared with my Bloodline pairing.”
“Alive and in the flesh.” His eyes deepen with the sly curve kissing the corner of his mouth as he feigns a half bow with one arm out and the other bent across his waist.
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Absolutely yes.” He swirls the liquid in his glass, amusement dancing in his eyes. “This information was clearly written on the scroll you received when you were assigned this room. Didn’t you bother to read the entire thing?”
I look down at my feet, curling my hands into fists as I say, “Well, about that. I may have—accidentally—almost struck the Owl Scroll with lightning. So it was a little singed at the bottom.”
He lets out a genuine chuckle that warms me to my core, like the music of summer sun rays seeping into my bones. The kind I can sip and savor forever.
I roll my shoulder, letting the thought roll off with it. I need to stay focused with a wolf prowling my bedroom.
“Well, at least we can finally fuck and get this over with. Then we can make our genetic contribution and be done.”
S?las tsks at me. “Nuh-uh-uh. You forgot my promise to you. I won’t settle for just one piece of you… I want all of you.”
“Oh, spare me the melodrama. This is our duty. There will be serious consequences after several months if we fail to conceive what’s required of us.”
His voice deepens into a feral growl. “I will not relent for some silly rule. Let them come. I will gladly face the consequences.”
“I told you the other night. You don’t want all of me. There is just nothingness inside. And a relationship puts our whole Zenith in jeopardy.” My eyes narrow on him.
“Our Zenith is already in jeopardy.” Shadows coil up his clenching jaw. “You think I’ll be the hero? That I’ll save them before I save you? I will slaughter entire worlds before I see you hurt again.”
“Fucking great. Kivi is going to kill us both for what you just said.”
“Regarding what you said the other night…” His jaw clenches.
Tattooed knuckles lift to his chest before drifting up to thread through his raven locks, while I curse myself for my smoldering jealousy of his hands.
“The distance you try to put between us will never stop me cherishing all that you are. I want to pin your hesitations to the wall, marked with my bite marks. I want to hold the parts of you that you believe are unworthy. I want to press my lips not against your neck, but to the wounds you swore you’d never let anyone love. ”
My breath is held captive by his words, soul pierced to the spot under his blue-moon gaze.
“Your thorns and broken pieces are just as worthy of love as the stars that glimmer in your eyes.”
My heart forgets how to beat. How can he think I am worthy of love?
I feebly snap out, “You don’t even know me,” but the quivered words lose their bite on my tongue.