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“Coward,” he said silkily. His cool, sweet breath brushed against my face. A part of me wanted to prove him wrong by dragging him down for a kiss, but I was the only one who could be hurt in this scenario.
“Aren’t you tired of running from this, Jade?” Alexei’s thumb pressed gently against my mouth, dragging my lower lip down with possession.
I sucked in a breath, subconsciously arching up into his touch.
Beneath my fingertips, I grasped onto the velvet curtains, needing to root myself in the present as his touch threatened to break my careful control. His nose trailed a line up to my ear. Licking the shell, he pressed his hips into mine when a wanton moan escaped.
“Oh, Goddess,” I breathed, my lids fluttering shut.
“Yes?” Alexei questioned, hands tightly grasping my hips to angle me closer. “Is this okay?”
I didn’t answer but licked my lips in invitation.
Mere inches away, our breaths mingled, the heady spell he wove over me destroying any hope for sanity. The taut moment stretched as I waited for the brush of his lips on mine when a wind gusted over my overheated skin.
I opened my eyes and met Silas’s dark gaze over Alexei’s shoulder. The vampire made no attempt at a costume, his usual black suit and unsmiling face clear of any adornments.
“What, Silas?” Alexei’s voice cut like a dagger, so quiet he almost sounded bored.
“The curtains, Alexei.”
My stomach bottomed out as I turned back towards the balcony. Alexei’s hands dropped from my waist as if burned. In my distraction, I had pulled tight enough on the flowing material to spread it open, revealing the party below. To my horror, everyone’s attention was focused on Alexei and me, among them Trystan Dubois and my Coven.
Alexei’s lips curled into a lazy smirk, the Prince of Pleasure making his grand appearance. He called out, “Show’s over. Return to the splendor of the evening.Laissez les bons temps rouler!”
The drunken crowd erupted in cheers and whistles as Alexei slammed the curtain closed.
My breaths came in short pants, and I adjusted my mask uselessly. Perhaps no one knew it was me. Alexei must find himself in compromising positions with creatures all the time.
The earlier interaction with Grandmother coupled with the realization that the entire city may have witnessed my humiliating and shameful embrace with Alexei gave the Amulet of Davorina the window it needed to slither past my defenses. Unfettered spirit magick burst out of my body, heedless of anything other than explosive power.
“Oh,fuck!” I gasped as Alexei and Silas blurred in my hazy vision.
Before Alexei could stop me again, I bolted for the back stairs, taking them two at a time until I reached his private courtyard. I tried to breathe deeply through the tight lacings of my corset and my incoming panic attack, but the amulet continued to latch onto my magick, draining me of energy.
I took a bracing step under the moonlight, only to freeze. While usually empty, the enclosed garden was now teeming with spirits floating through the gates from St. Louis Cemetery down the block.
“What on Gaia?” I gasped.
Some of the ghostly apparitions appeared shocked to be set free from their resting places, while others gleefully ran for the manor house pulsating with magick from the amulet and creatures within. As I watched, horror-stricken, the talisman amplified my heightened emotions, giving the spirits even more power as they surged past me, through the stone walls.
I jumped as the manor suddenly erupted in screams.
Magick surged around me as I realized this was my fault. My hand clasped the chain around my neck with shaking fingers.
What had I done?
4
Like an image from the past, the Coven’s historic estate loomed over the rest of the homes within the impressive Garden District. Sweeping oak trees lined the driveway leading to the white mansion covered with ivy and forest-green doors and shutters that hid the witchcraft being used within.
Rushing through the doorway, I elbowed past creatures loitering around my grandmother, who barked orders from the center of the receiving room. Sunrise was in less than an hour, yet my gaze kept sweeping past her scarlet-stained face, bubbling over with rage, to search for Alexei.
A foolish, completely ridiculous waste of energy.
“I’ve contacted the governor and the local media outlets to hush the disturbance, but we’ll need to create a mind-altering charm over the city to wipe the memories of mortals who saw an influx of ghosts descending on the French Quarter,” Grandmother said to Hunt Boudreaux and the Coven elders.
I winced, my hand surreptitiously seeking the amulet now safely stowed within my beaded evening bag. One lapse in control and the talisman had invaded my body, using my magick to create utter chaos for our people. Never before had it reacted likethis, though.
