“Sorry. Your…ghost interrupted us,” Magnus said.
“Are you okay?” Flo asked.
Sven smiled at her sweetly. “I am, but I think I’m going to head out of this gin trap.”
Flo nodded. “Okay.”
Mercedes and Magnus walked ahead and Sven spun around, pulling the lever again so her room would remain hidden. Part of her wanted to stay in that room, because she felt slightly overwhelmed, but also, she didn’t want to be alone. She wanted to stay with Sven and make sure that he recovered, so she floated alongside him.
Once they got out of the hallway, Sven pulled the other lever and the dining room bookcase slid back into place, hiding the passageway once more.
“There,” Sven said and he took a deep breath. Already his color was returning. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. All of you.”
“Our pleasure, but next time try not to get trapped,” Magnus grunted before scooping Mercedes up in his arms and carrying her off toward the elevator.
“Night!” Mercedes called out, waving over Magnus’ shoulder.
Sven rolled his eyes and then turned to her. “So I take it you interrupted them…”
“I kept my eyes closed. I have been shocked by your brother’s cavalier nudity in the past, and I really didn’t need to see it again.”
Sven groaned. “I warned him about it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I usually avoid his level and when you…” Pink tinged her pale cheeks. “I’d leave to give you your privacy.”
A sly smile spread on his face. “You have seen me like that before, you know. Well, only shirt off.”
“I don’t remember,” she responded, but she could feel heat bloom in her cheeks as she touched them. “And something tells me I was a lady.”
He chuckled. “You were indeed.”
“Were you a gentleman?” she teased.
“Always. The night… It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. What were you going to say?”
“The night you disappeared, we were going to run away together. We were finally going to be together. I was going to marry you, even though at the time we weren’t legally allowed to get married. Monsters and humans didn’t mix.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Sven wanted to marry her? It frightened her, but also made her feel warm inside, like it wasright. The heat in her cheeks moved throughout her entire body as if it remembered wanting him.
The way he kissed.
The way he tasted.
It all came flooding back.
“So we couldn’t get married?” she asked.
“No. Not back then.”
“But you were human once so we should’ve been able to.”
“I was, but the curse turned me into a ghoul. Red eyes, fangs, immortality. There were a lot of legends about Magnus and I. None of them good and none of them true.”
“Well, I mean ghouls were considered eaters of the dead. I read about it in books in the library here.”
“Yes. I know, but we don’t eat corpses. We eat meat, but not generally rotting meat.”
