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Oh. He was going to be fun.
It was cold out. I knew that I had about three seconds to make it back to my room before anyone knew I was missing. After the feast, and the longing stares from across the ballroom and the slight touching any time Hades passed me, I knew I needed to see him tonight. Business aside, I wanted to talk to him alone. Away from the eyes, and most importantly—away from my husband.
The village was quiet as I moved through the shadows, hidden behind a hooded robe. Guards passed in front of me, and I stopped in my step, waiting for them to pass. The moonlight was bright, but the stormy tropical winds that were settling in helped conceal me further.
I picked up my pace as I dipped behind the shadows of the trees that lined the sandy beach. I could see the ship from here, the only ship docked. The black sails were away, but the smooth base of the hull lived up to expectation. It wasThe Landing, and it had to be the most beautiful ship of all.
I close the book, wondering what this meant. Why would Sparrow give this to me? For what reason? I slide off my bed and lift my mattress, careful to shove the booklet beneath it. I wonder if…
I take the booklet back out and open the camera app on my phone, snapping a shot of it on my lap. Opening a new message, I quickly look over my shoulder before typing out a message.
I know you told me not to contact you, and I still may not understand why. But do you know what this book is?
I delete the message straight after I send it, sliding the book back beneath the mattress and pushing myself up from the floor.
My bedroom door swings open and Cooper steps through smelling like a red flag.
“Are you wearing Sauvage?” I ask, sliding my feet into my slides.
Cooper falls onto my mattress. He’s in ripped jean shorts and a white tee. “Are you sure that you’re okay with your birthday shindig? I mean, we can totally skip out, but people have been asking where you are.”
That was bound to happen. The people of Hades Hollow are anything but nosy. For whatever reason.
“I’m fine.” Guilt bubbles in my gut any time I think of Cooper who is being dragged through this too. “Honestly, Mom would want me to have a good time for my eighteenth, and since we don’t have her ashes back yet, it makes sense to do something.”
“Good!” Cooper swings up from my bed and hooks his arm with mine as he leads us out the door. “I wonder if your boyfriends will be coming.”
“Oh, we will be!” Malyk calls out, and I quickly turn to see him staring back at us from behind his door.
I need to see Malyk since I haven’t managed to talk with him alone since I fell asleep during his story time.
“I’ll catch up with you downstairs!” I shove Cooper away from me and quickly turn to Malyk.
Malyk’s body shifts, dipping behind the door, and the closer I get, the more I can sense why. Pungent smell of metallic fills my senses, and I pause. Reaching for his arm, I check him over.
“Why do you smell like blood?”
He doesn’t answer, his arm turning stiff. “I ran over an animal on the road and tried to help it.”
I look up into his eyes. Malyk’s beauty is in your face. It’s the kind of beauty that slaps you hard, and before you know it, you find yourself tracing all the sharp lines of his features. His eyes, though. His eyes have a kind of depth that you wish you could get lost in.
“What’s the matter, baby girl?” I feel his finger graze across my belly, where my shirt is tied up in the middle. “Scared?”
I swallow. “No. I just…” My skin prickles to life as I reach up behind the back of his neck, pulling him down to my lips. He doesn’t fight me but doesn’t move to make it easier either. His mouth smirks against mine.
“Blood turn you on?”
I roll my eyes. There’s no way this man is going to take anything serious right now, so I push away from him, only he catches my wrist and forces my body back into his. Before I can fight him off, his mouth catches mine, and he kisses me. My stomach erupts in a ball of fire as his tongue sneaks in and flicks against mine as if it knows its way around. Images flash behind my eyes of the story I read earlier. Sparrow…it is an unusual enough name to wonder if it has to do with my Sparrow. Can’t be, surely? Nothing makes sense, and I feel myself sink deeper and deeper into a dark depth of worry.
He brings his hand up to rest on the side of my cheek, swiping his thumb across the line of my cheekbone, and I shudder at the gentleness of the gesture. Pulling back slightly, he rests his forehead on mine. “You should probably go.”
“Can you tell me the rest of my story later?”
He steps back, and I instantly hate the distance between us. It’s almost like the farther he is away from me, the more I want to come in closer. What kind of witchcraft is it that these men hold? “We’ll see.”
“Hurry up, woman!” Cooper’s voice echoes up the stairs, and I look over my shoulder before coming back to Malyk.
I promised Sparrow that I wouldn’t tell anyone about the book, so if I ask Malyk about that, I’d be betraying his trust—but.
