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He cuts me off. “I only said it doesn’t look like something you’d choose. It doesn’t change the fact that you stole my breath the moment I saw you. This dress could get you into trouble, Marina.”
“How so?” I dare ask, needing some form of encouragement.
He groans.
“Let’s just say I wouldn’t want you seen in this dress in public. Men would not stay away, and I’d be forced to protect you in ways you wouldn’t like.”
I purse my lips, suddenly emboldened by his words and his appreciation.
“It’s just you and me, Julian.” I walk toward him, channeling every heroine from every movie I’ve ever seen. I’m slightly awkward, but he doesn’t seem to notice. His eyes are wide and mouth dropped open into an O. “Should I fear you?”
His chest rises and falls in deep breaths.
“You never need to fear me, Marina.”
I lean up on my toes and place a kiss on the corner of Julian’s lip and cheek.
“Thank you, Julian.”
“For?” His voice cracks, like that of a teenage boy. I smile, loving the effect I have on him.
“For never making me feel less than.”
“Never, Marina.”
I smile at him, wanting desperately to confess all the feelings bubbling inside me. Instead, I decide to steer the conversation toward additional answers. Things that might help me to understand his world a little more.
“What happened the other night with Vzar? Why did we have to go to Levine?”
“Every turn I make, the Council seems to know it. They have eyes everywhere, even in my own castle.”
“Vzar would’ve told them?”
“I never know whom to trust, Marina. I believe him to be a friend, but I’ve been fooled before.”
I wring my hands.
“What secret was your father keeping, Julian? You never told me, and I can’t help but feel like this is all connected somehow—your father dying and now the Council wanting you out.”
Julian sighs. “You’re probably right, but knowing his secret won’t keep you safe. The more you know, the more of a target on my back. If the Council finds out I told a human, they’ll kill you and find a way to dethrone me.”
“If they have their way, those things will happen regardless, Julian. I’d prefer to die not in the dark. Trust me. Tellme.”
He bites down on his lip, looking at me intently. Finally, I see a break in his resolve.
“For as long as I’ve lived, there have been legends that each vampire that is Born has a familiar.”
My brows rise.
“If you were the first Born, how would someone know this?”
“Witches. Back in the day, my father and the other families used witches to conjure spells to enlighten them on all the powers of our kind.”
I shiver at the mention of witches. If vampires rely on them for information, they have to be even more powerful and even more evil than vampires, right?
“I know what a familiar is, Julian,” I admit, trying to be honest and move the conversation forward and into new territory.
“How?” He demands, not angry, but not happy either.
