“Alina was somehow brought through The Fall. That means that the council had been using it all along.”
“Yeah. Apparently Mahin made some deals with the capital.”
Finally, we stepped into the main portion of the temple. The windows let through enough light to prove that Victor was right. The sun was up.
“What do we do now?”
“We go home.” Victor stopped, placing his torch on the stand and taking the second torch from my hand.
“Listen. Everything that happened here... I mean... it’s... we don’t have to make anything out of it. If it’s not what you’re ready for.” I looked up at Victor.
Slowly, he turned toward me. His eyes widened.
“I know how it is. Guys don’t want to be pressured into anything, and I understand that.” He cocked his head watching me. “I just want to let you know. That it’s ... You don’t have to feel like ... you have to... you know? You know what I mean?”
“No. You have to explain,” Victor said slowly.
“I . . . everything . . . I mean. What we did. It was so good . . . Amazing . . . It has never felt so good with anyone.”
“But . . .?”
“I’m not that naive. I know how guys are. I know what you expect.” I wrinkled my forehead.
Why did I even start this conversation?
Apparently, all the sex completely melted my brain, but it was something that I had to address right away. He had to know that I understood the rules of the game. For as long as I had known him, Victor went through women quickly, switching them every week, and I did not want to be one of them. Just feeling that he had placed me in the exact same category as all the rest, might just kill me. But if we could discuss everything beforehand, maybe then, my heartbreak would be more manageable.
Victor stepped closer, pressing me against the hard stone corner of the ceremonial altar.
“You knownothing!” He breathed in.
His nose grazed my cheek and his hands wrapped around my waist. His hot mouth pressed against my lips and the last remains of coherent thought slipped away as I responded to his kiss. His teeth scraped my skin and the next moment, he bit my lower lip, sucking and tugging on it.
“Victor?”
“Don’t you even start with that bullshit.”
“Victor, we’re defiling the sacred dragons’ temple.”
“I don’t give a fu . . .”
I pulled on the collar of his flying suit and gently bit his skin.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
TYNAN
The room was filled with knights in flying suits ranging from light gray to nearly white. The din of hundreds of voices sounded like raging water. Multiple chandeliers lit the spacious ceremonial room where the clan took care of its business. If the white clan’s traditions were even remotely similar to my own clan’s, this meeting would either formalize the succession of a new clan leader, or erupt in chaos. The lives of thousands of people depended on this meeting, and the results could never be called in advance. There were always many parties that wanted to change different things and the discussions could continue well into the night.
I shifted my eyes to old Rutherford. The coward had made a secret pact with the council and tried to poison Alina. The breach at the wall had been staged in order to pull me away from the castle and separate us. And I nearly bought it. I almost lost her because I left her alone.
What if he and his first knight had been successful? What if I was too late?
I clenched my jaw. He should have known that even if I was rotting in the ground, I would claw my way out just to wrap my decaying fingers around his feeble throat.
His watery eyes kept darting in my direction, as if he knew exactly what was on my mind. I could barely contain myself as I watched him sitting in one of the chairs just below the platform where Alina and I sat. The old man looked frail and sickly. A light tremor did not allow him to lift his head. But his pathetic state would not change the way I felt about him. If I ever got the chance to make him pay, I would do it without a second thought.
People in Alsaard were skeptical about Sage’s experience in the capital and his position as the head seer. None of his stories landed well. At least the white clan had more common sense compared to the people of Darragh.
