No swooning allowed!
I held up my hands, moving from side to side to draw his attention. “Leave it, Silv.”
The storms died in an instant. He blinked, focus back on me. “What did you say?”
“Nickname debut,” I responded, offering him a smile. “Official debut.”
His lips curled upward, his face lighting with joy. Man, it only made him more handsome.
“You called me Silv?”
“I did.”
His smile widened.
So cute. For a vampire king.
“Now can we go?” I pressed.
He lifted his right hand as if it to touch my face. His expression was wistful, enticing, and inappropriately timed.
What was with him and hills?
But he dropped his hand, the smile going with it. “We’ve wasted enough time here.”
Throwing Elio a pointed look, he returned to his lead position and ordered us to move.
Me and the other elf walked together side by side.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Why the sudden concern when I’d just been thinking of lobbing him down a slope?
Damn. Clearly, I possessed a pretty solid conscience.
“Y-yes,” he responded, his voice painfully tense.
Probably sucked to hear me use a nickname with the king. The guy already saw me as a replacement, and that would’ve only thrown fuel on the fire.
“He—”
“Please don’t talk to me.” He cut me off.
Rude. “Fine.”
I went on ahead, Medusa moving to take up the rear. She nodded at me, giving the thrall her own dirty look.
Fuck him. If he wanted to be this way, then he could rot in his own fucking sadness.
The steep path slicing through the lush green was dizzying, but the handy guardrail reassured me. I used it as we descended, passing under glittering glass streetlamps, moths fluttering around their lanterns.
About halfway down the hill, the path split, branching left and right. Silvanus took the left one, which hugged the hill in a curve until it reached a tall gate guarded by two vampires.
They bowed to the king.
“Did Vaughn ask you to come here?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” one of them answered. “We’re here to keep watch for you. Lord Vaughn insisted.”
