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She was all that before, too. And though she now shares all of my power, she’s still just my Esme. I don’t feel any less because she’s more.
Her eyes flicker open to search for mine, and I run my hand over her cheek. “It’s done. You can rest. Tomorrow, you’ll feel like an entirely new person.”
She groans, her complexion still very greenish and pale, but nods and closes her eyes again. “Tei, I…”
“Shh. Tomorrow. We have time now, my love.”
chapter 57
hearts left behind
esmeralda
When I awake the next morning, I’m not exactly a new person, but… the world around me feels different. For one, Tei’s embrace doesn’t feel blazing hot anymore. He’s still warmer than me, but the difference in temperature between our bodies has gotten more subtle. It’s a tiny swing in what, in the grand scheme of things, was a seismic shift, but I do grieve that small loss. His heat has been a constant of our relationship; now, I need to cope with flames of my own.
The other changes, I notice more slowly. As I blink my eyes open, the room around me looks different — the colors have shifted into hues I can’t describe, as if my vision expands beyond what the human eye can see. I roll around in Tei’s arms, and I’m caught so off guard by him.
The complexion I’d always called ashen is deeper, closer in shade — though not nearly as dark — to his true color. As I pay closer attention, I realize it’s because it’s not his skin that carries any pigment; it’s his blood. Thrumming in his veins under the thin layer of epidermis, it’s dark enough to be nearly black, but not quite. It has a shimmer to it, a bronze tinge, that makes even his human form look like the most beautiful of statues.
As if under a trance, I lean closer to kiss his lips. Tei stirs when my mouth is on his, and he moans, his fingers finding my face and keeping me close to him. The air fills with an overwhelming smell, sweet and syrupy and a little nutty, like the most decadent, rarest toasted vanilla.
At first I wonder if someone’s cooking breakfast, then the realization hits me, and I reel back. Oh shit. It’s Tei.
I can scent his lust.
His eyebrows furrow as he takes in my expression. He lifts himself on one elbow and reaches for me, touching me as if scanning for injuries. “What is it?”
“I can smell you.”
His expression twists even further in confusion. “I don’t…”
“Your emotions. I can smell them. You… you want me.”
Tei laughs, and his relief — or comfort, I’m not exactly sure yet — smells warm and woody, like sandalwood. “You don’t need to scent me to know that, little witch. I’m very obvious in my desire for you.”
With that, he leans over again, capturing my lips in another kiss. “That’s quite curious, though. Admittedly, there’s not much reported history on witches receiving my kind’s mark, but I assumed it would just amplify your abilities, not give you mine.”
I run a finger down the sculpted planes of his chest. “You’re not angry that I know what you’re feeling, now?”
“I’ve been scenting you since the day we met, and your emotions aren’t exactly subtle, my love. No, I’m not upset I get a taste of my own medicine.”
I blow a sigh of relief before pulling him to me for yet another kiss. Before I can take it any further, the handle of the front door rattles. Tei groans and snaps to gather the blanket, wrapping both of us in them, quick like a snake, just before Marta walks into the apartment. She takes one look at the two of us and groans, covering her eyes with her hand.
“Okay, I’m giving you two five minutes to make yourselves presentable, then I’m coming back inside.”
Exactly five minutes later on the dot, when Marta walks back through the front door, she finds both Tei and me sitting at the table, fully clothed, with cups of espresso made for all three of us. She sits opposite of the two of us, hands cupped on the table, and examines me. I keep my head high and hold her gaze. It’s hard to discern her scent, with Tei’s taking up so much of my attention, but if I focus intently on it I catch whiffs of Mediterranean notes, like oranges or maybe tangerines. I can’t link them to an emotion — I’m not that practiced yet — but it feels familiar.
“So?” I ask after a few moments of intense scrutiny. “Do I look different?”
“It’s not a look, per se…” she ruminates on it for a little while, then points to Tei. “He doesn’t look too far out of the ordinary.”
Tei cocks a brow. “Excuse me?”
“Let me finish. He doesn’t look too far out of the ordinary, but he feels like it.”
I know exactly what my cousin means, so I nod. It’s that feeling of foreignness, like Tei doesn’t belong to this world, that I got the very first time I saw him, and that continues to cling to him. That same feeling of wrongness I’ve always felt in myself, what made me feel kinship to him in the first place.
“Well, whatever that is, you feel that way now, too.”
