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I give her a reassuring smile, even though I’m beyond pissed off at Solon for even being here. He needs to leave, now.
Elle sits down, glancing between the two of us. “Everything okay?” she asks, still giving Solon the dreamy eyes.
“Solon was just leaving,” I tell her. “He’s a vampire, you know. Shouldn’t be in the daylight for so long.”
Solon goes stiff beside me, all his muscles tensing, and I swear I hear his heartbeat increase.
He angles his head and gives me a hard, cold stare. Careful. Humans aren’t so easily compelled when they’re faced with the truth.
I frown, knowing Elle obviously knew I was joking.
But when I look at Elle now, she’s sitting up straight in her chair, and I can smell a sharp tang in the air, her blood. It must be adrenaline making it more potent. Her eyes are watching Solon closely, her face contorting. She’s no longer compelled. She’s completely afraid of him. Revulsed, even.
I attempt to smile, open my mouth, about to joke that I’m a vampire too when Solon suddenly grabs my wrist.
Don’t! he yells in my head, his word a dagger. I meet his eyes and they’re impossibly blue, his pupils pin pricks. Don’t tell her the truth unless you want her to believe it. Unless you want her to look at you like she’s looking at me. Unless you want to lose her as a friend.
I suck in my breath, fear running through me now, the fear of losing Elle, my only friend. Then I look at her and try to smile but she’s still staring at Solon, like she really believes he is what he is, and that she’s his next meal.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to be going,” Solon says, letting go of my wrist and swiftly getting to his feet, towering over the table. “It was nice to meet you Elle,” he says, but she doesn’t say anything back, just presses her lips together.
He leans in close to me, his mouth going behind my ear, the feel of his breath making my lids flutter. “Keep your truth between the two of us,” he whispers, creating goosebumps. “Come find me when you’re ready.”
Then he kisses the skin behind my ear and I feel like I’m totally coming undone. My eyes close, and they don’t open for a few moments. When I finally do look, he’s gone.
And Elle is staring at me with a grim expression, rubbing her hands up and down her arms like she’s cold.
“Who the fuck was that?” she asks.
“Absolon Stavig,” I tell her absently, knowing full well she’ll probably Google him later, but I also know that there’s nothing about him on the internet, because I did the same this morning.
“Well, I don’t like him,” she says, crossing her arms. “Gives me the fucking creeps.”
I sigh, finishing the rest of my champagne. “Yeah, he’s not for everyone.”
“I mean it, Lenore. Where did you find him? He is much too old for
you, too.”
I can’t help but narrow my eyes. “I love a good age-gap.”
After the first century, it probably doesn’t matter much.
“Do your parents know about him?”
I nod. “Yes. They do. Actually, they introduced us.”
A version of the truth.
She shakes her head. “Let me guess, he owns a few museums. The man is obviously made of money.”
I pour the rest of the champagne into my glass. “I’m just glad you got to meet him. You seemed to like him at first.”
“Yeah,” she says, slowly thinking it over. Then she shrugs. “I don’t know what changed. But I still don’t like him.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about him?”
