‘I’ll speak to them,’ I say, shaken. What in darkness? I grow cold at the thought of what could have happened, if the statue landed true.
I cannot bear to lose him. But I also cannot have him.
I suppose all I can do is protect him.
ChapterThirty-Three
BLOOD AND DARKNESS
Istretch up on tiptoes, my hand scrabbling across the high shelf, raising a cloud of dust that makes me sneeze.
‘Bless you.’
I whirl, waving my hand in front of my face. Michael stands in the doorway of the War Room, looking infuriatingly handsome in a loose white shirt tucked into dark trousers, his blond hair damp and pushed back.
‘Do you need a hand?’ He saunters over to me, and I try not to remember how he looked earlier, shirtless with sword in hand, moving through the Morningstar.
‘I’m fine.’
‘Are you?’ He smiles, his stormy gaze darkening, then stretches up, his scent and heat so tantalisingly close, and grabs the book I was trying to reach. It must be how annoying he is that makes my breath come faster, makes me feel as though I might explode.
‘Yes,’ I mutter. If I keep lying to myself, maybe eventually I’ll believe it.
‘I’m not.’
‘What?’ I look up.
‘I want you, E. I miss you.’ He takes my hand, his fingers twining with mine as he lifts it to his lips.
‘We can’t.’ A breath of resistance.
‘Why? Because of your prince?’ He drops my hand, his brows drawing together. ‘I don’t care how many times he kisses you, or how he makes you feel. Didn’t I make it clear how I feel, when I came back for you?’
‘You didn’t come back just for me.’ So hard to talk when he’s so close to me.
‘Oh, I did. But if you don’t believe me, perhaps you’ll believe this.’ He leans in, his heat and scent surrounding me. ‘I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you, leaning against the wall in the café. I worried for you, every moment, after I lost you at the market that night. And when I found you again, it felt like a piece of me had been restored. When I kiss you, I want to keep doing it for ever. And when you’re in danger, even for a moment, I want to tear the world apart to make you safe again. You are everything to me, Emelia.’
I’m going to die, right here. I lean on the shelf, because if I don’t, I’ll fall.
‘We—’
‘—can’t be together? I can’t think of a single damn reason why not.’
‘Emelia, Michael. You are needed.’
I gasp. Michael steps back from me, and it’s as though warmth leaves my world. My father stands in the doorway, his arms folded, brows drawn together.
‘Varin is on his way,’ he says. ‘There’s something you need to see.’ He comes into the room, pulling down a screen on one wall. Varin arrives a moment later, all cool elegance in black silks, his long hair tied back.
I’m still reeling from Michael’s declaration.
I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.
Our meeting at the café, when I was in the Safe Zone with Kyle and Ruth took me out for the day. How little I knew of anything, back then. But I knew there was something special about him.
My father presses a button, and a video starts playing. All thoughts of Michael leave me. It’s the Channel Islands project. I recognise the ferry port, the town centre. And there’s a glimpse of me, riding in the open-sided vehicle with Sophie and Jane, Andrew at the wheel.
‘The Channel Islands project, seen as controversial in some vampire circles, was nonetheless a valiant effort by the soon-to-be-crowned Raven to promote her human-centred agenda ahead of her coronation.’ The voice of the vampire newsreader, visible at the bottom left of the screen, is smooth and polished. ‘However, reports are coming in of illegal activity in and around the islands.’ Another video, this one jerky, as though the person taking it was running. A moonlit cove and a small boat pulled up on the shore. Climbing out of it, vampires, masked and dressed in dark clothing. ‘They’re here,’ a male voice gasps, excited. ‘Let the games begin.’
