Page 142 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

I had never gone this long without playing cello, and it showed. Even when my mother was in the hospital, I’d taken a moment to play on the odd days I left to shower and gather new supplies. Diana flinched as I missed a note, the sound like a banshee shriek to my ears, too. My arm fell away, bow at my side, and I sucked in a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry.” I’d lost count of the number of times I’d uttered those words this afternoon.

“Stop apologizing.” She reached for her cup of tea and took a sip. Watery winter light seeped through the windows, brighter from the snow falling throughout the city. But the inside of Diana’s flat was cozy due to the crackling stove and the piles of books and sheet music scattered everywhere. It was a far cry from the penthouse I’d been staying in, and it should make me feel relaxed. “There’s no need to be sorry. We all have off days.”

I doubted Diana James ever had off days.

I was sorry, though. Between Diana’s performance schedule with the Philharmonic and the brevity of our trip, I didn’t have time to waste. If the key to my magic lay in my music, I needed to play, not shred her poor eardrums.

“Am I making you nervous?” she asked when I didn’t continue.

That would be a good excuse, but I shook my head. I already knew that wasn’t the case because I’d been putting Julian through the same torture in our hotel suite for the last forty-eight hours. “I think I forgot how to play.”

Diana placed her cup on the table, pity softening her dark eyes. “You haven’t forgotten. It’s part of you and was long before you discovered your power. Let it be about playing, not magic. Play something from memory.”

She was right. I’d been so focused on finding the key to my magic that I’d forgotten the joy I felt when I held my cello. I hadn’t been focusing on the music much. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and lifted my bow once more. I didn’t think about what piece. I just began. The first note was shaky but with the second, something unlocked. My fingers found their way, music filling the room.

I was lost to it, to this piece that had always consumed me. The music carried me to a place beyond the worries and fears that had been clouding my mind. The notes wove around me, telling a story that was both familiar and new. For a moment, I forgot everything outside the music. Nothing else existed, and as the last note faded away, I opened my eyes to find Diana smiling.

I let out a breath as I saw the golden threads shimmering in the air around me.

“Is that...”

She nodded. “Magic.” Her grin widened. “Told you so.”

It was...beautiful, even as it slowly faded before my eyes. The notes were thin and delicate, crossing and intersecting. Before they could disappear entirely, I reached out, my cello resting safely between my legs. I expected the notes to vanish, but they were soft and strong like the silk of a web. Light flooded my skin, warm and comforting, as they dissolved into my flesh—and then all around me, there was music. Aching, pulsing notes without rhythm or reason.

I shut my eyes against it, fading into that terrible melody.

Magic bloomed inside me, snaking into my veins to rouse the power there. It ignited with a sudden, painful flare in my chest and flooded through me. It ravaged and cleaved until I thought my heart might crack in half. I clutched the neck of my cello to steady myself as I fought the urge to vomit.

Diana’s voice cut through the air. “Thea! Release it!”

Then there were hands on my shoulders, Diana’s magic grounded me, siphoning mine until my eyes snapped open. Music thundered around us, the colors of the room blindingly bright as the world spun out beneath my feet.

Not the carefully composed Schubert I’d played moments ago. This clashed and circled, rising in sharp piercing notes before falling into hell itself. The music was the air and the earth, the fire and the sun. It was the skin that hung on my bones and the light that stabbed my eyes. It was everything. It was primal and timeless.

It tore through the room. The windows rattled, and picture frames crashed to the floor and shattered. Diana yanked the cello from my hands, but the music continued, twining around me like serpents, hissing and writhing and squeezing the air from my lungs.

Diana’s hands were on me again, her voice almost lost in the fury. “Thea! You are in control!”

Control.

But I couldn’t control it. It was primal and raw, power that existed before the world was born. Power that would be here long after its death. I was nothing—nothing—compared to it. But I reached inside myself, searching…searching…

And then, beneath the maelstrom thundering inside me—a flap of wings, a rustle of dark magic that roared awake. Shadows fell through the room, darkness smothering the savage magic. My hands folded over my chest as my mate’s magic eclipsed mine, shielding me.

Diana released me and collapsed into a chair. Neither of us spoke as that dark magic dissolved like smoke in the wind.

I panted, shaking my head. “I’m—”

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” she cut me off. “Your magic is new. Unstable. It will take time.”

“I don’t have time.” My voice split on the words, and fear swelled in my throat. I swallowed. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this, Diana.”

“No one is ever truly ready for power. Not those who seek it nor those who crave it.”

“I’ve never wanted it,” I admitted in a whisper.

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