The whole ceiling and three walls were painted like a temple on Olympus, its life-sized gods nude save for artistic swathes of silken fabrics. Cyclopes forging armour swung into view, and a pristine blue sea could be glimpsed between the figures on one wall. Satyrs, flying horses, and butterfly-winged beings dived and swept throughout the frescoes. Above, a host of divine figures on a ceiling of clouds gazed down, backed by a brilliant golden light.
But, for the first time in her life, Nicole didn’t care about the paintings.
As she ran inside, the opposite door flew open.
And there he was, chest heaving, dark green eyes dilated—
Mine.
The word, the feeling, was so loud, so visceral it shocked her as much as the sight of him.
Her faded dreams and sketches hadn’t done him justice. Some primal, physical part of her trembled to look at him. The sheer masculine beauty, the dark hair, the hazel eyes that, though intense, were the only soft part of him. And only when they landed on her.
She was suddenly out of breath.
He was slightly unshaven. Sleepless.
Then, slowly, as if she might bolt, his powerful legs brought him towards her in a few strides. Despite the bulk of him, he moved with preternatural quiet.
Her eyes raked over him.Him, striding through a painted room of gods and creatures, rainbows and storms, the image of Aphrodite and Ares’ forbidden romance on the wall behind her.
But all of that was a blur of colour and glory and mythos.
She must have moved because he didn’t stop. Instead, Kyan’s arms were suddenly around her waist and her feet were off the floor.
She threw hers around the dense muscle of his shoulders and nuzzled close, nose buried along the crook of his neck, bathed in the heat and scent of him. Forest and warm man. Every smothered instinct, every iota of the yearning hit her like a tidal wave and a deep sigh of relief left her, an incredible calm replacing it.
‘Nicole,’ he breathed.
She shivered at the tone of his voice, at the realisation of how deeply she’d worried about him.
Her feet weren’t on the floor. She didn’t care. Her hands dove into the silk of his hair. It was slightly longer, regaining a curl. She loved it, but she wanted toseehim.
Nicole pulled back enough to try and he set her back down gently.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, cupping her face, his hands wide and warm andreal. ‘I smelled blood.’
Her eyes flickered closed at the touch, at the intimacy she’d desperately hoped wouldn’t have faded despite their time apart. And then the joy came and she wanted to tell him everything.
‘Yes, I—’
‘Kyan,’ came her father’s cool voice.
Nicole blinked to find something change in Kyan’s gaze, something morethan the interruption. It shuttered through him like a door slamming on his emotions. Kyan’s hands squeezed her hips slightly before he dropped them, and the loss suddenly burned.
She corralled her relief and excitement with a hard swallow, feeling suddenly … embarrassed. And beneath that – shaky. She’d known she cared for him, but this much?
Callum strolled in through the same door as Kyan with a smirk, hanging up the phone. His eyes slid over her shoulder to where she felt her brother emerge and Bells run inside. A smile ticked at the Empyreal’s full lips. ‘Dylan.’
The tense silence was the most welcome they’d get from her brother.
‘Bells,’ Callum greeted.
‘Hello again, Callum,’ Bells said quietly, earning one of the Empyreal’s sharp, devastating smiles.
‘Well,’ said Verin, joining them. ‘It seems it’s time for explanations.’
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
