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“Have you come to abduct me?”
“I have.”
Nina didn’t turn as she spoke, her icy blue eyes scrutinizing the location before her. Today, a single band of red streamed from her right temple, nearly hidden amid the deep brunette. The stylish bob suited Nina’s strong, feminine features. Unlike Blair, her beauty was a flawless, immaculate thing, uncontested by any who looked at her.
Blair was more of an acquired taste.
“You love it here.” Nina’s statement broke the silence before a hawk called out into the coming night, capturing their attention. Clearly perturbed by their presence, the wild predator stared at them from where he perched on a leafless tree.
“This pond has remained unchanged through the ages.” Just like Blair had.
“It’s quiet here. Calm,” Nina whispered, her voice an errant melody that cut through the melancholy of their environment. The very tones of her voice were soothingly poetic, and Blair always strained to hear every word.
For a moment, they simply sat in silence, enjoying the dulcet tones of nature. The red-tailed hawk spread its wingspan in the minutes that followed and, for an immaculate moment, he loitered above them in the treetops. With a single wingbeat, he lifted off, taking to the darkening skies in search of his next meal.
“Come on, Blair,” Nina said into the stillness that followed. “Let’s go to Lexington before you walk into the wilderness again.”
Blair scoffed, but it was a lighthearted sound. “Only if you insist.”
“Ah, but I must.”
Nina waited a moment before her teleport blurred the world around them. The sensation of weightlessness and falling jolted through Blair before she solidified in a rush of warm air. As her vision sharpened in the aftermath, she blinked.
Before her was the sprawling Lexington mansion that Nina called home—occasionally, at least. For the last hundred years, Nina had centered her life here rather than in her clan territory, Solaris, near St. Louis.
Standing from the chaise Nina had teleported them, Blair stretched and relished in the chill of the mansion’s foyer. Outfitted in a minimalist style, the modern décor of the space was familiar and comforting. Though the cavernous space boasted few knick knacks and trinkets, there was no denying that it was a home.
“When does the council convene?”
There was a bare whisper of movement behind her as her sire stood and they set off down the hallway, toward the well-loved den. “Tomorrow. They were waiting for Drake to get back from a business trip across seas. As you know, Lucius has his own personal taxi now.”
“Handy gift, teleportation.”
And it was. Raeths, one of the oldest immortal breeds to walk the earth, had the unique ability to travel via teleportation. In addition, their race boasted telepathy and some variance of transfiguration with relation to their appearance and items.
As Raeths aged, they developed unique gifts and abilities, though they played them rather close the chest. A secretive society, Raeths tended to interact only within their clans, unless otherwise warranted. Though she and Nina were exceptionally close, she knew the other woman kept things from her.
“So, we’ve got the castle all to ourselves tonight?”
“Not quite. Kaien dropped by to see you off.”
Blair jolted infinitesimally, but she kept pace with Nina as they trod over the glistening white marble floors. “I’m one hundred percent certain that isn’t true.”
“Honestly—,” an almost irritated shrug, ”—I think he just needed a break from clan lands. I was trying to soften the blow for you.”
Blair’s jaw tightened before they swept into the den. It was a cozy space where Blair spent most of her time during her infrequent retreats at Nina’s home. Overstuffed leather chairs, soft and inviting from years of continual use, beckoned her.
Then, in the warm glow of the reading lamps scattered around the room, she noticed the person who’d already made himself comfortable.
“Good evening, Blair.”
Kaien, Nina’s twin brother and regent, sprawled languidly in her favorite chair, looking like a spoiled princeling on a gilded throne. His deep brown eyes hadn’t bothered to flick to hers in greeting, even as the smooth tones of his voice met her ears. The massive Raeth male’s strong features were barely illuminated, casting his delectable profile in shadows. He lazily turned the pages of a hardback.
“Hello, Kaien. Lovely to see you again.”
His eyes pinched at the corners as Kaien’s attention focused unerringly on her. Full, pale lips pressed together in a firm line before tipping his head back and eyeing her ruefully. His gaze slid down her body, critical but lingering, before returning to her face.
“How’re the wilds of—where is it again—Montana? Wyoming?” he asked blandly. “Both are such exciting destinations.”
