I position the blade under his chin and tilt it toward myself. “I’ll ask one more time. What do you think you’re doing here?” The dagger digs into his skin, and a drop of blood wells up. The scent of something rich and woodsy fills my nose, and I find myself salivating, my jaw aching. I shake my head. My eyes bore into his despite being obscured by the mask. His are dark, like thick, black smoke. I press in closer. “What is your business here, thief?”
His eyes practically smolder as they pierce right back into mine. “The lord of this house has something of value to me.”
I roll my eyes. “Obviously, or you wouldn’t be here in the middle of the night, trying to steal from him.”
A dark laugh bursts out of him. “You amuse me. Now be a good girl and get off me.”
“Or what?” I dig the blade a little farther, and another drop of blood trickles down his neck. My tongue darts out to wet my lips, and the thief’s eyes follow the movement.What in the realms is wrong with me?I shift uncomfortably, and his grin only widens.
“Don’t get me wrong, my lady. There is nothing I love more than having a beautiful woman on top of me.” He winks. “But . . .”
Before I can think of a retort, he lurches forward and rolls me so that our positions are reversed. The dagger I held to his throat clatters to the floor, and he pins my shoulders down with an arm, his legs on either side of my waist. I glare up at him, more angry at myself than anything for allowing him to get the better of me again.
He leans forward and moves his lips to my ear. “It’s best I be going now. It was lovely to make your acquaintance. Be good and don’t scream, all right? Unless we meet again . . . under different circumstances.”
“You cad,” I grit out. Anger writhes inside me at the audacity of this stranger with the smoky eyes and cocky grins.
He jumps up and blows me a kiss before pulling back the curtain and leaping out the open window into the dim light of Luna’s embrace.
I push myself to sit, and a drop of something glides down my cheek. Reaching up, I wipe the liquid off my face, holding it up to the moonlight that shines through the open window. The drop of ruby blood glimmers, and before I can stop myself, I suck it off my finger.
The smoky, spicy taste explodes in my mouth, making it water. I must be losing my mind. I’ve never tasted someone else’s blood before, but a sudden craving overwhelms me.What in the realms?
Dusting myself off and shoving the thought of blood to the back of my mind to unpack later, I get to my feet and do a quick scan of the room, looking for some kind of disturbance or a clue as to what the thief was after. Once again, nothing looks out of place, but I haven’t spent much time in here lately, so perhaps it isn’t obvious. The shelves look undisturbed, and Father’s desk is as tidy as he likes it.
Perhaps I will never know who the mysterious thief is or what he was after. I stifle a yawn as I close and lock the window, then peer out into the night—no sign of him anywhere. My eyes drift to the moon, and I throw up a quick thanks to Luna that the man didn’t actually seem to wish me harm.
Will he return? I should probably tell Father. He’ll know what to do.
Chapter Two
RAELYN
Asliver of rare sunlight slips through the drawn curtains—a beckoning call, a siren song meant to lure me toward something that can only do me harm. The rebellious side of me wonders what would happen if I were to stick my toe in that bright beam of light. Would I burn? Father never specified, but I trust he’s not lying when he tells me how ill I would get as a child, so I live in darkness. Not completely, but I stay out of the sun. Father’s efforts at finding a cure for me have gone nowhere.
I stretch my pale arm in front of me in the dim light, not for the first time wishing my skin matched the sun-kissed hue of the rest of my family’s. Perhaps that’s what’s wrong with me, why I can never touch the sun. Perhaps my mother passed this affliction on through her family line or ate something she wasn’t supposed to while carrying me. At least that’s the story I prefer instead of the rumors that I’m not my father’s daughter. Surely he would have told me if there was any truth to that.
Mother never spoke of it, and I can barely remember her now. Funny how eighteen years can erase a person from one’smemories. I vaguely remember raven hair and eyes like the deepest pools of water, but still, she feels foreign to me. She rarely doted on me or had a pleasant thing to say.
Sometimes, I have dreams of a green-eyed woman singing lullabies over me with the kindest smile. However, despite all my searching, I have yet to find someone in our family—or even a previous servant—who matches the description. More affection flows from those dreams than I ever remember receiving from my mother. Perhaps this mystery woman is merely a figment of my overactive imagination stemming from my lack of love at home.
“Raelyn, darling, why ever aren’t you dressed yet?”
I groan as I lie back on my bed, reaching for a pillow to cover my face and ears from my sister Erika’s obnoxious voice.
“Leave me alone.” The few hours of sleep I managed to get were far from enough to be awake right now—my entire body aches. My tumble with the handsome thief didn’t help either.
Who was he? What was he looking for? I really ought to tell Father about him at breakfast, but then I’d have to admit how he got the better of me and Father would likely take his unbearable disappointment out on me at our next training session. Not to mention, I’d have to deal with my siblings’ mockery . . .
“Father will kill you if you’re not down to breakfast on time,” Erika says in a sing-song voice, and I wince at the grating scrape of the curtains opening. “You know he has news he wants to share, so we really mustn’t be late.”
I peek my head out from under the pillow, noting that the light shining into the room won’t touch me as long as I stay on the right side of the bed.
“Fine. I’m up,” I say with a huff.
Erika lets herself into my dressing room and swiftly re-emerges with an emerald day gown draped over her arm. “Now, Raelyn.”
I roll my eyes. She’s so bossy, one might think she’s the older sister. Dropping my feet onto the chilly stone floor, I yelp.
