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He gave me a knowing smile. “I did a little research. You want a place that’s high up, removed from the worldly hustle and bustle of the city, with unfettered access to the moon and the heavens.” His smile shifted into one of those infernal smirks. “What a long way you’ve come since you first arrived, Kitten. No longer cowering in fear of the sky… or anything else, for that matter.”
“I… you’re right.” I blinked, wracking my mind to recall exactly when the phobia had disappeared. I genuinely couldn’t remember; the change had been that gradual. “But you’re also wrong.”
“Oh?” He arched an eyebrow.
I pulled my hand out of his—not because I didn’t want his touch, but because I wanted it too much, and it was driving me to distraction. I didn’t know how this enigmatic vampire lord had managed to breach my walls, but he had turned both his presence and his touch into something I desired.
Maybe it was the way he protected me without making me feel caged or belittled. Maybe it was his unwavering support as I’d struggled to regain myself, despite my lack of faith and trust in him.
Or maybe it was simply the fact that, despite having never led a mortal life, Maximillian Starclaw possessed a surprisingly human heart.
“I’m not going to leave, not after everything that’s happened between us,” I said firmly. “It would be a poor way to repay you after all the times you’ve saved my life, especially since I’ve brought so much trouble to your door.”
“Trouble?”
I sighed. “Nyra told me why you had to kill Vinicius that night. Because I used my witch magic, and he would have threatened to expose me if you’d allowed him to go to trial. She said that because of the way you handled things, you might wind up in trouble with the emperor.”
“Is that what she told you?” Maximillian laughed. “Nyra knows me better than almost anyone else, but she’s wrong.”
“She is?”
“Oh yes.” A dangerous note edged his voice as he slipped his forefinger beneath my chin, and my pulse tripped as he tilted my head up to meet his. “It’s true that Vinicius would have complicated things should I have allowed him to live, but that isn’t why I killed him. I could have found another way to ensure his silence.”
“Then why did you do it?” I asked, breathless.
“Because.” He leaned in close enough for his next words to caress my lips as he spoke. “I told you on your first night here that as long as you remain in this city, you are mine. And anyone who touches what’s mine, dies. I meant every word of that, Kitana.”
He purred my name as he spoke it, and the vibrato in his tone traveled from his mouth to mine and straight into my core. The molten need he ignited in me was far different from the scathing, defensive response those words had inspired a mere few weeks ago. His mahogany and leather scent filled my lungs, stoking that fire even higher, and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to close that final inch separating us.
Maximillian’s nostrils flared as the scent of my desire thickened in the air between us, and his mercurial eyes deepened,becoming almost liquid so that I felt like I was drowning in them. The hand beneath my chin slid to the back of my neck, his elegant fingers slipping into the strands at the base of my skull.
“Is there something you want, Kitten?” he asked, his voice low and rough in my ear.
I opened my mouth, but whatever words my lust-addled brain had been about to say vanished as the temple door creaked open. I sprang away from Maximillian, my heart pounding so hard I could barely hear myself think over the roaring in my ears, and whipped my head around to see Sparrow standing in the doorway, his frame backlit by the moonlight.
“Well, if it isn’t two lovebirds necking on sacred ground,” he teased, the golden hoop in his ear glinting as he tilted his head. "Not exactly what I was expecting to find in here, but I'll take it."
My entire face flamed, and if I wasn’t in the death god’s temple, I would have wished for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. But with my luck, and Tenebros standing just behind us, I’d probably end up falling straight into the underworld. “We weren’t necking—” I began hotly.
“What is it, Sparrow?” Maximillian asked, cutting me off before I could devolve into a mess of defensive blathering. There was no mistaking the displeasure in his voice at being interrupted, and the foolish, needy part of me wondered what would have happened if Sparrow hadn’t chosen that exact moment to walk in.
Sparrow sobered instantly, straightening up. “Nyra asked me to find you,” he said, his gaze meeting mine. “She and Eliza have gathered everything you asked for. They’re waiting for you at the sundial.”
“Oh!” A rush of anticipation filled me, taking the edge off the lust that had nearly driven me into the vampire's arms. “That’s excellent.” I turned back to Maximillian. “Will you come?”
He arched an eyebrow. “You want me there?”
“Eliza and Nyra volunteered to assist me, but I need a third.” I bit my lip, feeling self-conscious. “I was hoping it would be you.”
“I would be honored.”
We rushed out of the chapel and into the central keep, Maximillian keeping pace with me. My heart raced with nerves and excitement as we entered the elevator, the metal box creaking and clattering around us. A part of me wondered if the ritual would still work, or if the moon goddess would refuse to answer if vampires were in attendance. But I had no choice—it wasn’t as if there was a coven of witches around that I could ask. Besides, if the goddess refused me after all I’d been through simply because the vampires who’d helped me were present, did she even deserve my devotion?
Blasphemy,the voice of Grand Matron Seraphina, the head of the Nocturne Clan, snapped in my ear. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in decades, and I nearly hunched my shoulders before remembering she wasn’t here. None of my clan were.
The elevator doors opened, and I shoved the grand matron’s voice, along with all thoughts about my fellow witches, out of my mind. I would reclaim my power on my own terms, and if anyone tried to get in my way, not even Hecate could save them from my wrath.
17
