Page 12 of Kiss the Dawn
Desperately. But I was giving him space.
I doubt that he’d want space from you, Orina.
The shrewd tone, coupled with the probing look, had my cheeks flushing. There was no point denying that there was a connection between Hemlock and me, so I simply nodded.I’ll take this outside, then.
Kaster touched my hand, breaking our connection. I shot him a quizzical look because he didn’t need to do that. He couldn’t read my thoughts, and he wouldn’t be able to hear my conversation unless he physically eavesdropped. Mindspeak worked when weintendedto speak to each other. But I understood this was his way of letting me know I had complete privacy.
Hemlock stood looking out at the night, his profile kissed by moonlight while starlight threaded fingers through his dark hair.
I took a tentative step onto the balcony. “Hey, mind if I join you?”
“Never,” he said wistfully as if it was an admission.
I felt it in my bones and allowed it to draw me to him so that I stood beside him, looking out at the world with him.
“How’s Ordell?” I’d meant to ask earlier,shouldhave asked, but my mind was a maelstrom of thoughts revolving around the singular question of whether my friends were all right.
“He’s still chained. The effects of the moon have lingered this month. Daisy is taking care of him. He’ll be free tomorrow morning.”
“I’d like to see him before I leave.”
“Oh, he’ll be here, trust me. The growls and curses I got for not releasing him when you called…” He lets out a soft laugh. “He’s pissed. He’d insist on coming with you if he wasn’t worried about losing control of his beast. It’s safer for him here, close to the castle where we can contain him if need be.”
“And you? What’s the real reason you can’t come with me?” There was too much longing in my voice, and I quickly cleared my throat, but the sharp look in his eyes told me that it was too late. He’d picked up on it.
He sighed softly. “I’m vulnerable to the virus. Otherwise nothing would keep me away.”
I should have guessed this, and maybe if my mind wasn’t so frazzled I would have. After all, he’d told me that the witches came from him, from a wave of power he’d emitted to save a village centuries ago, before Loviator had turned his gift into a curse. “So you’re like…the first witch?”
He gripped the railing, leaning forward and lifting his shoulders in a shrug. “Not a witch, exactly, but something…more. Unique.” He smiled wryly. “Which isn’t always a good thing.”
“But the virus can still hurt you?” I stepped closer, turning my back to the world so I could lean against the railing and look at his beautiful face now shadowed with memories from the past.
His gaze dropped to my face, frosty eyes darkening as he drank me in, and for a moment, I was back atBranwood, outside the saferoom, pressed to the wall as he assaulted my mouth with his until I bled. My breath snagged, and his hot gaze fell to my lips, and yes, he was recalling it too. He exhaled, warm against my face, and closed his eyes.
“Orina…”
Why was my throat so tight? “You were saying?”
He nodded. “Yes. I was…” He tore his gaze off me and fixed it on the view of the city, but it was a few more moments before he spoke, enough for us both to lock away the memory of that kiss.
“When the event happened all those centuries ago, this dark weave, this thing they call a virus either killed or infected witches. Those that were over the age of twenty-five showed symptoms right away. The others became symptomatic once they turned twenty-five. They called it the surge. Some were able to subdue it, others failed and went dark. Since then, every born witch carries the virus. I don’t. It failed to infect me when it was unleashed, but I’ve had my blood tested by the magiscientists on the Isle, and Iamsusceptible, and as you can imagine, with the power that I have access to, if I got infected, it would be very, very bad, which is why only a handful of the highest ranked individuals in the consortium know about it. The fact that your friend Lorenzo diverted the conversation like he did means he knows, which means he must be on the consortium.”
He was, and I only knew about it because of theshit we’d gone through a few months back. Usually, the identity of consortium members was kept secret.
Secret like Hemlock’s vulnerability should be.
“I won’t tell anyone; you can trust me.”
“I do. I wouldn’t have told you otherwise.”
We’d come a long way, Hemlock and I. He’d gone from the asshole who I’d wanted to frequently punch to this man who I would trust with my life. “How do you think Ezekiel will take the news?”
His shook his head. “Not well. Especially when he can’t go with you to protect you.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“And this Lorenzo…you’ve known him long?”
