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I grimaced to myself, reading his expression perfectly, even though the guard did his best to remain neutral.
Maren’s not going to let Drakias or anyone oversee the movers. She’ll be here from start to finish to make sure it’s done properly.
I couldn’t blame her. In her life, she had never had much until now. She wanted every item handled with utter care, even though I could and would replace anything if she wanted. But that wasn’t the point.
Knocking on the door to the apartment, I called out in greeting to her, letting myself in without waiting for a response. Maren wouldn’t mind. In a few hours, we would be sharing a suite, anyway.
“Mare? Are you going stir crazy in here?” I teased, the door snapping closed with too much force at my back.
The balcony door was open, creating a cross breeze through the kitchen. It was odd for the chilled temperatures outside, creating a cold inside that didn’t suit Maren’s liking.
“Mare—” Her name died on my lips as my eyes rested on her slender form, leaning over the purposely high railing of the balcony.
For an impossibly long second, I couldn’t understand the way she was standing on a wicker lawn chair, teetering over the side as if she were trying to see something down below. My eyes narrowed and widened, the scene baffling and alarming me in unison.
My brain whirled, trying to make sense of what was happening.
At first, I didn’t think it was her, bent at that angle, the cold, winter sun catching fiery red streaks I’d never noticed in the strands of her chestnut mane. But I caught a whiff of her, the hint of fear and pheromones snapping me into action.
“What the hell?” I choked.
But I didn’t have time to reconcile the reality of what was happening as my lover gracefully and willingly tipped herself over the side of the veranda before I could even take a step.
I sprinted forward, shock making me numb, my hands outstretched too late to capture her before she was gone. She had already plunged over, and there was nothing I could do to stop her from falling to a certain death below.
Chapter 2
Maren
The street below rushed up to meet me as I tumbled from the balcony, unable to stop myself. There was nowhere to go but down now.
At first, the impending cement staring at me was just a part of the fog that had overtaken my mind, but from somewhere deep and primitive, a visceral howl tried to awaken me.
My baby!I screamed inwardly, but the spell that had taken over my mind wouldn’t go away, and I was unable to do anything about my certain, looming death.
“MAREN!”
From the distance above, Nyx’s voice shattered my fugue, my head turning slightly upward, the anguish and terror in the king’s simple utterance of my name shaking off the spell, and instinctively, I shed my fae body, shifting into my owl form. From my stiff shoulders, white speckled wings spread wide, a millisecond before the sidewalk claimed me. I was so close to crashing that the claws of my feet scraped the sidewalk on my spiral upward, fear sending a hundred feathers molting off my body as I swooped toward the sky and onto the balcony. Down below, dozens of onlookers recorded the scene on their phones, shrieking and gasping at the almost-fatal event.
Gasping and shaking, I fell back onto the cement veranda, allowing my body to change back as Nyx scooped me up in his arms. Understandably, he was also shaking wildly, his face twisted in an expression of utter confusion. My lover engulfed me in his thick, strong arms, stroking my hair wildly, rocking me back and forth as he mumbled to me incoherently. His heart hammered through his button-down shirt, but as I blinked and looked around, confusion set in.
“You’re okay,” he whispered tenderly, his voice trembling as if he were trying to convince himself.
“Yes…” I intoned blankly. “I’m okay.”
“Why did you do that?” he choked, emotion overwhelming him. “What the hell were you thinking? Why were you on that chair?”
The last few minutes were foggy at best. I remembered what happened, but I had no explanation for what compelled me to jump.
My gaze traveled downward, and I gasped in surprise. “What happened?” I demanded, as we huddled on the ground.
But I knew Nyx didn’t have answers, either.
Cold shot through me, and my trembling became uncontrollable.
“You tell me!” He boomed, but fear laced his voice, not anger. “We were just texting. You were waiting for the movers, and then I came to find you…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence, even as I continued to stare at his smoldering, greenish-brown eyes, the fire inside them alarming me.
