Page 159 of Cursed Heirs

I certainly was.

And I loved everything about it.

34

~Xavier~

I woke up with one hell of a smile on my face.

All thanks to last night.

To reconnecting with Alena again, both physically and emotionally.

It had been a hell of a thing.

I was on the edge of the bed, my arm draped over her breasts as she slept on her back, Talon nuzzled into her other side. Orpheus had been between them when we’d fallen asleep last night, but it was no surprise that he wasn’t here now.

For the last few weeks, long before sunrise, he’d be up and out on the campus grounds working with his army, preparing them for what was coming.

Then he’d be back at it later the same night too.

I stroked Alena’s hair out of her face and breathed in her sweet cotton candy scent.

I didn’t want to leave the warmth of the bed, realizing how challenging it must have been for Orpheus to do so earlier too.

But I had to.

So I forced myself up and I carefully climbed off so as not to disturb Alena or Tal.

My veins were buzzing with the magic running through them that I’d ingested through Orpheus’ blood last night. I’d be able to help him a great deal today out there with his soldiers.

The last time I’d fed from Orpheus, the magic had lasted almost a whole day in my system. I was hoping for the same this time.

The first time I’d done it, at his pushing, I’d been so shocked that I’d felt magic running through my veins after it being stripped from me that I hadn’t properly taken stock of it. Nor had I been in any stable frame of mind to do so.

But now I was on steady ground, I had been. I could analyze it subjectively and objectively, and I’d come to the conclusion that Icouldlive like this. Without my magic, but having these influxes every now and then that were temporary.

It was enough for me. It was a compromise that I could live with.

And ever since Ore had orchestrated that dangerous scene between us that had made me unleash the full force of the demon, I’d figured out how to control it a whole lot better.

I could do this.

I sped across the room with burst after burst, snatching up my clothes that were all over the floor and hurriedly dressing.

I couldn’t wait to call my dad on the way to Orpheus and tell him what I’d realized.

I looked back at Alena and Talon sleeping so soundly, and then I stepped out of the room and made my way down the hallway.

The building was so quiet because of the early hour, but particularly this area because Ore’s chambers were set back from the rest to afford him more privacy. Sometimes it paid to be Prince of the Dark Fae. Although, mostly, especially lately, it was more of a burden than anything else, the perks washed away by all the rest.

Not for long.

With the army in place and growing more ready each and every day and my dad close to finding a way to incapacitate theHellborn, it wouldn’t be long before we struck against Constantine and wiped his scum from the face of the earth. Nothing less than he deserved.

As much as I hated the idea of taking a life, he had to be the exception. He’d demonstrated in so many irreversible ways lately that it would never be enough to just recapture him. All the while he remained alive, we were all in extreme danger.

My change there was likely also due to my vampire side being more front and center, those demonic instincts taking the wheel. But it didn’t make my determination any less true, or necessary.

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