Page 3 of Promised in Blood

“I’m sorry, but this is all so new and…” I swallow. “I want to know everything, sir. About what I am. My power. About you. About your family.”

I feel his heart ache with sadness as though it were my own. I cannot imagine enduring a betrayal such as the one he experienced. “You will. In good time.”

“Do the boys know of your past life? Of your wife and children?”

“No.” His response is a soft murmur as he presses his lips against my neck.

I know better than to delve further into that with him right now. It wouldn’t do me any good—he isn’t going to tell me why he chose to hide such a large part of who he is from them. Besides, I have slightly more immediate concerns. “And they don’t know what happened tonight? What we just did?”

He lifts his head, his dark eyes locked on mine once more. “They know nothing of what we did or of what I showed you, butI have no doubt they will have felt your power awakening within you.”

A shudder runs down my spine.My power!There is so much to know. My mind is buzzing with a bazillion questions, and I want to ask every single one.

Alexandros runs the pad of his thumb over my lip, anchoring me back to this moment. His touch soothes me, calming the chaos in my brain, and I wonder if that’s a part of his power too. There are still so many things I need to know, but most pressing is what we just did and what it means for all of us. Does he not want Axl, Xavier, and Malachi to know? Am I going to be his shameful secret? Locked away in his memories along with the family he lost five centuries ago but who he still mourns every single day?

He places his palm on my cheek, his large hand cupping an entire half of my face. “There are a lot of secrets we will have to keep, agápi mou, but this…” He presses a soft but possessive kiss on my lips, and I melt into him. “This is not one of them.”

Chapter

Two

AXL

“What the fuck is going on?” Xavier bounces on his toes as we stand on the porch and wait for Ophelia and the professor to return. “You think we should go check on her?”

As much as I’d like to do exactly that, I shake my head. “Alexandros made it clear we were supposed to wait here.” The order he gave us fifteen minutes earlier still rings fresh in my head. His tone, as usual, was commanding and gruff, but there was something different about him.

Xavier jogs down the three steps and stands beside Malachi on the grass. “What do you think it is? Something definitely happened to her, didn’t it?” He glances back over his shoulder at me. “You both felt it?”

I nod and absentmindedly run my fingertips over the thick veins in my forearm, recalling how they burned with pure fire a short while ago. And without a shadow of a doubt, I know the rush of adrenaline that accompanied it had something to do with Ophelia.

Malachi stares out across the lawn and into the distance. “I think it’s her power. Something happened with her power.”

“You think it was something to do with the witches? Is that why Alexandros was so mad at her?” Xavier glances anxiously between the two of us. “Because he sounded real pissed when he went to get her, right?”

I nod, my mouth dry and my throat working as I try to swallow.

Xavier spins around, directing all his attention at me, his blue eyes wide with terror. “He wouldn’t hurt her, would he? We’d know if she was hurting, right, Axl?”

“Of course he wouldn’t hurt her,” I assure him, although that same fear already snaked its way into my thoughts too.

“And we’d know if he had,” Malachi says, his eyes still focused on a spot in the distance. He cranes his neck. “Here they are.”

I follow his gaze to find the unmistakable figures of Ophelia and the professor walking side by side. From here, they both look the same, but everything has changed. I can tell by the closeness of their bodies and the way she steals glances at him every few seconds. And then he looks at her too. Their eyes meet at the perfect moment. Neither looks away.

As they grow closer to the safety of the Dragon houses, away from the potential prying eyes of the college, she slides her tinyhand into his. He doesn’t pull away from her, and my heart sinks through my chest. If he’s claimed her, what does that mean for us?

I jog down the steps and stand between Malachi and Xavier.

“Do you see that?” Xavier asks, and the same anxiety inside me ripples through each of them too.

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be okay,” Malachi says reassuringly.

Xavier snarls. “I’m not giving her up. He can try to take my fucking head, but he can’t have her.”

Malachi reaches behind me and squeezes Xavier’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” he mutters again. But the sideways glance he shoots my way speaks volumes.

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