“That doesn’t seem like a reason to be so worked up,” Malakai chuckled lightly, though the laugh didn’t quite match the expression on his face. He appeared just as put off as I was.
“Cain… He thinks that Cain might be with them.”
I ripped my hand from Tristan’s grasp and stalked around the bead, heat burning in my veins. “Where is Azrael?” I demanded, though I had a feeling that I already knew the answer.
Tears were falling down her cheeks in heavy streams. “He s-said he wanted to protect you, Morrigan. He said he wouldn’t let him take you again.”
“Where is he?!” I yelled.
“I couldn’t stop him, baby,” she cried. “He ran through the courtyard, and I tried to follow after him, but I couldn’t get past the wards of the castle. I came straight here!”
I immediately stormed across the room, not needing to hear another word.
“Morrigan!” Tristan called behind me, his voice heavy with worry and fatigue. “You… said you… wouldn’t…”
“I’m going after him, Tristan!” Leaving the three of them behind me, my footsteps morphed into a run, which then turned into a full sprint.
I will never let Cain near Azrael again, I vowed. Never… again.
Chapter 31
DORMIUS
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in my study, papers in hand, and my mind was stuck in a strange fog.
How did I get here?I thought to myself. I took a couple of seconds to blink through my confusion, but it felt like a wall had slammed down in my head. Looking down at the papers, there wasn’t anything significant written on them that might give some insight as to what I was doing before this. One was a letter from the palace, requesting my presence. The other?—
The door to my study opened, and Stefan walked inside, quietly shutting it behind him. I almost slumped over in relief when I saw his face.Surelyhewould be able to clear this muck in my brain and help me to rememberwhyI was even here to begin with.
“Stefan, this is going to sound a bit mad,” I laughed anxiously. “But do you know what I was doing?—”
Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, he turned and stole my lips in a searing kiss that made me drop the papers onto the floor. He pushed his body against mine hungrily until my back hit the shelf, sending a few of my books tumbling to the floor.
“Gods, I’ve been wanting to touch you all day,” he whispered.
I completely forgot what I had asked him as I lost myself in his taste. He smelled of pine, which meant he had likely just finished his patrol.
“Did anyone see you?” I asked breathlessly between kisses.
“No. The hall was clear.”
With that reassurance, I quickly began removing his coat, sliding it off of his arms as he worked the buttons on my shirt. Perhaps this was what I needed…He isalwayswhat I need.His touch alone cured any ailment of mine, and his lips could free every knotted tension in my mind.
Once his shirt fell to the floor beside mine, he pressed our chests together and bit down on my bottom lip, pulling a light whimper from my throat. “You’re wound so tight,My Lord,” he whispered into my mouth. Then, his hands cupped between my thighs, and he squeezed gently, forcing me to swallow down the noises in my throat. “You work so hard.” His lips kissed a line across my jaw and down to my neck. “You deserve a reward.”
A gasp tore from my lips when his hand slid beneath the waistline of my pants, wrapping around my hardening length. But just beside the door, I thought I saw a strange flicker of shadow, like the darkness had grown an inch or two.
“S-Stefan,” I said quietly.
His lips grazed my ear, nipping at my skin in places that made the hair on my neck prickle. “I can’t wait another second to have my lips wrapped around your?—”
The doors to the study slammed open, and by the time I could shove Stefan away from me, one of my older priests stood in the doorway, eyes widened in horror.
“Priest Julius,” I rasped, my face hot, and cheeks dubiously red with the guilt I was wearing so openly. After running a quick hand through my hair, smoothing it away from my face, I reached it out in front of me as if I could protect either of us from the implications in this room. “I can explain.”
Every fear of mine came true as his horror morphed into a sneer filled with pure disgust. His crinkled lips pulled back, his grey eyes turned to Stefan, and he lifted a finger in his direction. “Seize him,” he commanded. “Seizebothflesh traitors.”
“No!” I yelled, pushing off of the shelf to block Stefan from the guards entering the room. But before I could reach him, two sets of hands wrapped around my arms to stop me. “Get off of me!” I yelled, calling for my magic to slow down time. I just needed to get him out of here, and to somewhere safe, but… nothing happened.
