The man reaches for my other hand and brings it to his lips. A gasp escapes my throat. I tug my hand free from his. Through my haze, I say, “I’ve seen you before.”
He raises a brow. A gentle tip of one of his wings traces the underside of my jaw while the other just barely brushes my calf. I begin to breathe heavier and feel my cheeks grow warmer. “Have you?” he asks.
“In…in a dream.”
One of his hands rests on the marble above my head and he leans into me, sinfully whispering his name across my shoulder.
“Rowan.Remember that name, darling. I sense I will be occupying more than just your dreams soon.”
Two
Rowan
She is more exquisite up close. Not just something beautiful, but something powerful and commanding.
The last time I saw her supple cheeks and toned body, she was a fragile little human drowning in a lake. This girl that has stolen Kaius’ heart is now something else entirely. Something new. Something untamed and wild flows through her veins and beats in her chest, like a force begging to be freed.
The air is thick and pulsating around her. An aura dressed in ruin. It’s deliciously blended with confusion and desire wrapped up in a body that doesn’t quite know how to handle what it’s become yet.
The most obvious sign that she’s been kissed by magic is the tips of her fingers, turned black as night from Eternity’s rot.
She shudders when my breath caresses her skin as I whisper my name. I can hear her strange heart thump wildly in her chest, but she does not flee. I was not made to be perceived as a threat. Even the most demon-fearing humans find it hard to resist the curiosity that stirs in them when they see me.
“Rowan,” she whispers back. Her eyes bounce around under her pretty lashes, examining my face. “Are you here to see Kaius?”
I scoff quietly. “Maybe I am, but you’ve piqued my curiosity. Why don’t you tell me about this dream of yours?”
She squeezes her eyes shut, and after a moment, she reopens them. The blue irises that glow are disrupted by a harsh black cloud before returning to normal, and she seems to escape the spell she didn’t even know she was under. She steps away from me, placing her back to the courtyard, forcing me to turn so that my back is to the palace I once called home.
I lean against the cold marble and cross my arms while I spread my wings to their full span, wide and high, showing her their grandeur in an attempt to recapture her attention. They glisten in the light of the sunset, shimmering iridescence that reflects both deep jewel tones and soft pastels.
She focuses her piercing gaze on them, and I ask again about her dream.
“Did you stare at me like this in your dream?” I mock.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Very bold of you to assume you were anything more than a passing face.”
“And yet I left an impression anyway, didn’t I?” She doesn’t answer. “You called me Cassius. Do I remind you of him?”
“Your eyes do,” she answers. “They’re a very particular shade of grey.”
“Ah,” I muse as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world. Then, I hold up my arm, and a glittering mist wraps itself around me. In a few breaths, the snake in question appears before us, raising his head in greeting to her.
Adelasia looks shocked. I give her an amused smirk. “He’s a loyal creature, isn’t he? Though, if you don’t fancy the grey eyes, we can change them to whatever you like.”
I blink, and both my eyes and Cassius’ flicker from grey to gold. I blink again, and they turn from gold to green. I blink again, and they change from green to purple, and then I wink at her. “The ladies do love the purple eyes. Don’t you think it suits me?” I ask as I brush the fingers of my free hand along my jawline.
“I prefer red, I think,” she says back, her jaw upturned in triumph as if her words have gotten under my skin.
“Oh, really?” I ask, then I take a step forward, and that glittering mist returns, surrounding my entire body and then fading. Her mouth falls open when she sees that my wings are gone and I have transformed myself into an exact replica of her vampiric lover. She’s only a few inches shorter than me, so I hinge at my waist to lean into her neck and lower my voice, lacing it with the subtle yet irresistible pull of an incubus in full form. “Kaius and I were once very familiar. I think you’ll find that all of his…physicaltraits are perfectly imitated.”
Her pupils dilate and her jaw slackens. She swallows slowly and takes a deep breath. Her fingers twitch at her sides and I give her a knowing smirk. She’s responding to the magic. She doesn’t even realize that I’m slowly learning to control her body—slowly easing my way into her without a touch. She can feel it, and so can I.
She blinks once, as if trying her best to escape from a fog. “You’re…doing something to me…”
“Yes,” I confirm, “But you like it. I can smell it.”
Her breathing stutters and then in a fraction of a second, she pulls herself out of the fog. I don’t expect her to strike me, and I expect it even less to send me into the harsh marble at my back, cracking it with my fortified bones.
