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“I’m taking you to someone who can help,” he says. “Without your memories, you can’t begin to claim your birthright. Baxter will know what to do.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere else. I’m still coming to terms with the fact that I’m here.” I jerk my chin at the floor-length mirror and shudder. “Can’t you send me back?”
His mouth turns down, and his gaze flashes with emotion. I take a retreating step, and he halts it by tightening his hold at the nape of my neck. “I’ve already lost you once, dearest one. Thatwill nothappen a second time. When I find the person responsible for your current condition, the devastation that’ll befall them will make the queen’s methods seem generous.”
“Please.”
My plea is weak, pathetic and without clarification. I don’t know what I’m asking him for or what I hope to gain. My emotions are tumultuous, like a ship trying to navigate its way to shore during a tempest.
Only Darius is both the sea wrecking meandthe lighthouse offering refuge.
“The lies we tell ourselves are dangerous,” he whispers, slowly lowering his head. “Only the truth will set us free. You need to know yours.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to.”
“Too many lives depend on it.”
His breath skims my face. I inhale, breathing him in, taking solace in his nearness. Darius frightens me just as much as he intrigues me. But there’s something in the way he touches me that pulls me to him. Makes me want to trust him.
I’m an idiot.
“The choice is no longer yours,” he says. He rests his forehead to mine, and the silky strands of his hair brush my cheek. “We are powerless against destiny… and our desires.”
His mouth finds mine, and I stiffen under the contact. The softness of his lips coaxes me to respond.
And I do.
I lean into him and lay my hands on his chest, wanting to be close. For once in my life, I’m connecting with someone on a physical level. It’s strange, but no more than being thrust into another world.
Darius lifts his head, and I chase his lips with mine. He chuckles softly, and my eyes fly open. Our gazes lock. His is bright with lust. I swallow the nerves gathering in my throat. Excitement is there as well, invigorated by the feel of his cock pressing against me and the blood flowing through it, hardening it to perfection.
“I promised myself a sample,” he says against my mouth. “Now that I have it, how am I supposed to satisfy my hunger?”
I stare up at him. Threads of desire weave themselves into my ever-present anxiety, creating a tether that attaches to Darius. He is everything I want and fear.
“I don’t know. That’s my truth.”
He nods, and a grim smile tugs at his lips. I trace the shape of them with my eyes, committing the visual to memory. Regardless of who this man is or isn’t, I can’t deny the beauty of him.
“Agreed.”
He takes my wrist and turns my palm up, the sexual tension in the air thinning. My fingers twitch when his hair falls over his brow once again. He isn’t the only one who’s starving to touch. And tobetouched.
“Who is Baxter?” I ask.
Maintaining a firm grip on my hand, he turns toward a nearby table. I lean to the side to see what he’s searching for and yank my hand in a knee-jerk reaction. Darius turns back to me, his fingers curled around the jewel-encrusted handle of a knife. The blood on the blade grew cold some time ago, but I can sense it’s his.
Does he think to add mine to it?
I make a fist and attempt to dislodge his hold once again. That earns me a look of reproach. I offer him one in return.
My pulse throbs wildly in my veins and he winces. “Damn it, Alic— Adelaide. I’m not going to murder you. Now hold still. I need a drop of your blood to create the portal. That’s all.”
I swallow deep, my gaze zipping between the blade in his hand and the expression on his face. The energy flowing through his bloodstream is determined, not detrimental. My ability to decipher another’s intentions isn’t without fault, but blood never lies.
People do.
“I’ll kill you if you take one drop more than is necessary,” I say.
