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I hadn’t. “That’s good.” The canvas she was working on showed nightfall over the mountains in the distance. She’d captured the light perfectly, somehow instilling a glow through her use of the oil paint. “That’s good, too. It looks like you can step right inside.”
Her cheeks colored. “Thank you. No one’s ever... um, yeah. Anyway, thanks, I appreciate it.”
Cassia picked up a rag and started cleaning one of her brushes. “Once you’re finished, I have something I want to show you,” I said.
She scoffed. “I’m never finished.”
“Then stop now. Put some leggings or pants on.”
While I was changing, I heard her shuffling around, the soft clicking of brushes being bunched together, and the crisp sound of papers being gathered. My suit came off and I dressed in leather pants, tall boots, and a heavy tunic.
“Jesus Christ, you’re hot,” she muttered, entering the closet with me.
“Why do you sound disappointed?”
She sighed as she grabbed her clothes from the shelf. “I’m not. Trust me, I’m not.”
She glanced up at me, and I gave her a quick smile when I wrapped my hand around her neck. Then I leaned down and scraped my fangs along her neck, just enough to break the skin and watch her blood bead.
And then I ran my tongue along the scratch, feeling myself swell against the all too tight confines of my pants as I reveled in her flavor and the increasingly sweet scent emanating from her groin.
She panted and squeezed my waist when I released her. “Good thing I’m getting changed.”
“Wear boots,” I told her as she made her way to the ensuite.
She replied from behind the closed door. “Why?”
“We’re heading to the forest.”
She squealed and came out dressed and ready much faster than I expected—for her. “Really?” She ran past me and came back again, her feet clad in sturdy boots.
“Really.”
* * *
There was no way she’d be able to keep up with me, not even after feeding her my blood, so I carried her. I set her down close to the river and made sure we would have plenty of time to walk through the woods so that she could enjoy herself as much as possible.
Cassia marveled over the trees, running up to one and dragging her finger over the bark. “These are huge! I never went there but they look like pictures of those trees in California. I always wanted to see them, but I never went. You could build a house inside one of these things.” She laughed. “It’d really be a tree house.”
I chuckled. “People do make houses inside these trees sometimes.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Really?” She shook her head. “I have to stop saying that, you’re gonna get sick of me acting like a crazy person.”
“I could never get sick of you.”
Her gaze tilted down and then back up again. “That’s good.
Taking her hand in mine, I led her through the grass and to the water. The glass-like surface of the stream gently waved as the flow headed north, winding its way around the rocks and tree trunks scattered along its border.
Cassia dropped my hand and hurried to the water’s edge. “Look, the water is so clear.”
She squatted in the dirt and grass and trailed her finger through the stream. She glanced at me quickly. “Obviously, you know that.”
It was fascinating, seeing the wonders of my Realm through her eyes—and amusing. The only water I’d seen in the Third was a bay that should have qualified as raw sewage. Watching Cassia, I realized how jaded I’d become.
“I do,” I answered. “But it is precious watching it through your eyes.”
Her brows furrowed quickly and then she stood and wandered a little farther. Her aura spread around her, as if she were personally the bearer of aurora borealis. It sparkled golden like her hair when the sun streamed through the windows while she painted. It shimmered a soft rose pink, like the delicate space between her legs.
