Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
ORPHEUS
Alex and I strolled along the sprawling candlelit corridors and perused his father’s fine paintings.
Art had always held my heart, and its beauty remained undiminished by time. I almost forgot what I had planned for the night.
A chill ran up my spine at the threat ahead.
I recognized the cabin boy, escorted by an older man, heading fast toward us, and nudged Alex into a deep shadowy alcove, leading to one of many rooms.
“Alex,” I said, “there is something I have been meaning to ask you.”
“I’m intrigued.”
I pushed Alex against the wall and remained still, hoping they would not detect movement as they passed by the alcove. Samuel’s mind confirmed my suspicions. The boy had witnessed everything that had occurred on the ship, and Samuel had just shared his experience with Lord Artimas.
“That was close,” Alex said.
I stepped back. “Too close.”
“Well, you have something to ask me?” Alex said.
My invitation came cloaked in inevitability, radiant and blinding, too brilliant for him to fathom the gift I extended, or the cost it carried.
I sighed. “Would you consider coming with me?”
“Back to Spain?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then—”
“Would you . . . like to be more than you are?”
“I don’t get you,” he said.
“Are you ready to live the life you always dreamed of?”
“Free of my father?”
“Free of everything.”
“How?”
I was thoughtful.
“What do I need to do?” he asked.
“Are you prepared to come to the end of the world with me?”
“Where do you have in mind?”
“I want to give you a gift.”
Alex stared at me.
“There will be no turning back,” I said.
“Sounds serious.” Alex smiled.
“For now, perhaps just a taste?”
“How much time do I have?”
“None.” I lunged, pushing him against the wall. Turning his neck to the side, I bit.
He shuddered.
We shared the frisson. Alex tried to push me away. I held him fast. Our two bodies were locked together by the strength of one. I opened my mouth wide to receive the sudden gush and savored the wave of pleasure.
Through clenched teeth, he moaned.
Leaning against him, it was a thrill. Our emotions intermingled.
Alex’s life unfurled in images and whispered dreams, where one soul dared to share its trembling essence with another, me, the taker of tales, the keeper of shadowed secrets, the silent archivist of sins. A decadent tapestry of truths, tender and innocent, which I drank in like dark wine.
Savoring him in the stillness.
I broke away.
Alex fell, dazed. He stared off, blinking.
I applied pressure to quell the trickling blood. “Alex, do you trust me?”
A tear fell from his eye.
With a bite into my wrist, I’d drawn blood. “Drink.”
He turned his head away.
I thrust my wrist against his lips and pulled his head back, bestowing only enough blood to cause memory loss. I closed Alex’s eyes and wooed him to sleep.
I dragged his body into the darkest shadows of the alcove.