Chapter 28
Chapter twenty-eight
Cora
It was the harsh whispers that eventually pulled Cora from sleep. She recognized the male voice, but the vaguely familiar ethereal tone of the female wasn’t one she could immediately place.
“What in Lilith’s name did you do to her?” the male snarled.
“Calm yourself, Saiden. I understand that you are frustrated, but you do not speak to me in that tone.”
“I apologize, Eliana. I’m just scared. It was a little concerning to see my m—”
“Hush now. Cora is awake.”
Damn. She’d kept her eyes closed in the hopes of hearing a little bit more. She should have known she couldn’t fool vampires.
Cora cracked her eyes open, blinked a few times at the bright light assaulting her retinas, then evaluated her situation.
Spacious bedroom larger than her apartment? Check.
Massively oversized four poster bed with gossamer crimson curtains? Check.
Rich mahogany furniture and wine-colored velvet drapes? Check.
So pretty much exactly what she would expect from a vampire’s guest suite—gothic and opulent. She knew Saiden was holding out on her when she got dumped in his bedroom.
The only thing she didn’t expect was the two very concerned faces peering at her like she had just narrowly escaped the clutches of death.
“Uh, hi,” she said awkwardly, trying and failing to sit up in bed.
Glancing down, she realized someone had tucked her under the covers, and that someone must have been a vampire because the blankets were secured tighter than any human could achieve.
It was actually making it a little hard to breathe.
“Cora, we are so pleased to see that you are awake,” the female intoned in her gentle, melodic voice.
There was something so hauntingly beautiful about the way the woman spoke.
As if the words slipped out of her mouth on a glittering celestial cloud, danced through Cora’s brain, then floated off into the ether, leaving a faint tinge of sadness in their wake.
Cora’s memory finally filled in, and she connected the face to the voice.
It was the one she’d heard on the patio right before she was saved.
The woman really was an angel.
“What happened out there?” Saiden growled, but Cora dismissed Sir Grouchy in favor of staring at the divine being in front of her. If her arms weren’t securely fastened at her sides, she would have reached out to touch the woman’s face to confirm that she was real and not a heavenly illusion.
Cora smiled sheepishly at the captivating female. “Is there any chance you could loosen the blankets? They’re a little restrictive.”
In a flash, Saiden had both the comforter and sheets off the bed and in a pile on the other side of the room. He moved so fast that Cora was surprised she didn’t go flying along with them.
It was a little overkill, but at least she could breathe easier again.
Saiden lowered himself onto the bed beside her, his face twisted in such a deep expression of worry that Cora couldn’t quite fathom anyone else looking at her that way.
Not even her family or friends had ever shown that level of concern after any of her episodes.
She squirmed under the discomfort of his unrelenting stare.
Geez, she thought, it was just a little light choking, no big deal.
Unable to bear the intensity of Saiden’s gaze any longer, Cora looked back over to the otherworldly female. The woman practically glowed from within, the mirror opposite of the dark prince staring down at her.
“Are you an angel?” she blurted out before her brain could catch up to her mouth and inform her of the ridiculousness of her question.
The woman just laughed, and the sound was magic personified.
It was like a melody that couldn’t be properly heard by human ears.
Something spellbinding that swept you up into its arms, wrapped you in a cocoon of shining white euphoria, then gently set you back down, only for you to mourn the loss of it so keenly that you would slice out your own heart just to hear it again.
Saiden turned to Eliana and muttered, “Is there any chance you’ll give us some privacy? I won’t get a proper answer out of her if she’s drowning under your spell.”
The female smiled beatifically at Saiden and nodded.
“Of course. I will leave you to tend to your… mortal.” Turning her enchanting face to Cora, Eliana leaned down and pressed a faint kiss to Cora’s forehead.
“Despite the unpleasant circumstances, it was lovely to meet you, Cora Lee. I do hope to see more of you in the future.”
Cora watched the angel float out of the room, and a hypnotic urge filled her, demanding she follow this woman to the ends of the earth.
“It will pass,” Saiden reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder, gently pinning her down until her muscles relaxed and she eased back into the mattress.
“Who was that?” Cora asked, dragging her eyes away from the door to look at Saiden.
“That was Eliana. She is Marquin’s mate.”
Cora nodded absently, still in a daze. The fog faded away after a second, and she regained her full senses once more.
Damn, that woman was like walking ecstasy. How did anyone get anything done with her around?
“What was she?” Cora breathed out, propping herself up against the fluffiest pillow she’d ever touched.
“She is a vampire like me, more or less. She’s just a little extra in many ways.
She is considerably older than any of us in the compound, but we don’t know her exact age, nor do we ask.
I’ve been told that she was never exactly human the way you are.
That even before she was turned she was a feared and respected seer.
After she died…” Saiden scrunched up his face in thought for a second, and Cora couldn’t help but think how disarmingly cute he looked when he was struggling for words.
Like he briefly forgot he was supposed to be mean and scary.
“Let’s just say she’s not quite a vampire either.
She’s something special. All of us have an aura, an emanation that causes humans to be, at the very least, intrigued by us.
Eliana’s aura is unlike any other. She rarely leaves the compound because of the effect she has on humans and vampires alike. ”
“But you don’t feel a pull to her?”
Saiden shrugged. “I did at first but not anymore. Eliana is, for lack of a better word, like a mother to me. Marquin is my sire, and she is my sire’s mate.
It’s a bit difficult to feel so enamored by someone who is a parental figure as well as the one most likely to lecture me any time I mess up.
Not that messing up is a common occurrence. ”
Cora searched his face for any hint of deception or teasing and found none. “That was your mom?”
It kind of made sense in a weird way. Eliana spoke to Saiden in a manner that was similar to how she imagined a mother would speak to her child.
Saiden laughed at her comment, and she really wished he hadn’t. Every time he laughed his features relaxed into something less intimidating, and it made it that much harder to remind herself of what he was. That much harder to resist him.
Which is probably why she didn’t pull away when he leaned forward and brushed her hair away from her face.
“What happened?” Saiden asked, the question tender and compassionate this time.
Cora sank into herself. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss her illness, but she doubted he was going to leave her be without some sort of explanation.
“It happens sometimes if I eat too fast. My throat spasms, and I start choking. Jinx has done the Heimlich on me three or four times by now, and I’m never supposed to eat meals alone because of it. I’m sorry if I scared your cousins.”
“Don’t be sorry, Cora. We were all just worried about you. You stopped breathing then passed out. The girls said you only had three drinks.”
Cora tried not to look too embarrassed. It would be easier to pretend they drugged her, but she knew three martinis would have done it. She must have lost count somewhere along the way.
“I don’t drink much,” she explained. “Or ever, really. The trauma combined with the booze was probably just a little too much of a hit to my system. I’m sorry if I made a scene.”
Saiden gave her a heated look. “If you do not stop apologizing, Cora, I’m going to have to punish you.”
The way he said ‘punish’ made her think it would be less chained in a dungeon and more handcuffed to a bed.
She gulped as the visual of a naked Saiden ‘punishing’ her took up rent inside her brain and signed a lifelong lease.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of the naughty new desires he was unlocking inside her.
If she found one more, maybe she’d win a new vibrator to help deal with all of them.
“Got it, not sorry,” she corrected, and a flash of disappointment crossed his face. Almost as if he hoped she would apologize again.
“So now will you tell me what’s going on?” he urged. “I know I have not been human for a long time, but I’m pretty sure throat spasms are not a common occurrence. Not to mention the muscle twitches when we kissed. Something else we still need to circle back to.”
Shit, why did he have to bring that up again? The one time she was content to sweep something under the rug, he had to call attention to it. She debated her two options and decided she preferred airing her dirty medical laundry over airing her dirty thoughts about him.
“The twitches and spasms are symptoms of Huntington’s Disease.”
She waited to see if he recognized the illness. Some people did, and she had to deal with a disgusting level of pity. Others didn’t, and the pity was staved off only until after they went home and googled it.
Saiden’s blank look indicated he would be one of the latter.
“I see,” he replied carefully. “And this Huntington’s Disease, how exactly does it affect your life in the long run?”
She would have preferred the internet gave him the answer to that particular question, but since that didn’t seem to be an option, she might as well rip the bandage off. She was going to bring it up eventually when she pleaded her case with Marquin anyway.
“It doesn’t affect me in the long run because there is no long run,” she answered, forcing herself to look him in the eye.
“I’m dying, Saiden.”