Page 21 of Kiss the Dawn
This was all new information to me. “We were told the dome was created because the outside world got dangerous.”
“It did. After the event that brought the graynites to us. How do you like your steak?”
Huh? “Oh, medium please.”
“Perfect.” He flashed me a smile and my tummy fluttered because I was in a house on wheels with Lorenzo Crescent. A man who’d featured in way too many of my bedtime fantasies.
He started searing the steaks, and the smell had my mouth watering. “There are other creatures out here too,” he continued. “Beings created by the power of imagination. They call them tulpas.”
“Yeah, we have those in Dracul territory too.”
“Ah…yes, of course. As well as tulpas, you have your regular bandits and gangs, of course. The gargoyle guardians keep the peace working alongside human enforcement.”
“Because the city isn’t big enough for everyone?”
“Something like that.” He set a plate of steak and salad in front of me. “Dig in.”
We ate in silence, just as well because the steak was too delicious to ruin with conversation, but afterward we talked. About the Rim and the gargoyles of Arcadia—they had a whole settlement to themselves, a stronghold it seemed—then moved on to Nyx and the strange lockdown with Morningstar territory. I was worried about my friend. I’d seen firsthand the political intrigue of Morningstar and felt the threat that lurked around her when I’d visited a few months ago. I wish I’d been able to go back to her like I’d planned, but the Order had given me the watcher assignment. We moved on to me and my experience in Dracul territory. I told him about Ezekiel and how unpredictable and horrific he’d been when I’d first arrived as his watcher. How he’d killed innocent people to satiate his hunger, and how things had slowly changed. How he’d changed.
“Are you falling in love with him?” Lorenzo asked, his gaze unreadable.
“Yes.” I didn’t need to think about it. I felt it.
“And the others.”
I ducked my head. “You obviously heard me and Ordell.”
“Sex doesn’t mean love, Orina.”
I looked up at him sharply. “I know, but I’m sure you know the rules around sex for blessed Order members.”
He smiled wryly. “I do.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not going to ask me why I…”
“Why you gave up your blessing? No. Because I know you well enough to appreciate that it would not have been a decision you made lightly, and it would not have been simply for physical gratification.”
The strange weight that had settled on my chest as our conversation drifted into these waters lifted. “Thank you. And yes, I gave it up to save Ordell from his curse.”
His eyes narrowed. “I see. The beast.”
“Do you knoweverything?”
He chuckled softly. “Enough. I’m assuming that mark I saw on your shoulder this morning was a mate mark?”
I’d come out of the bedroom briefly in my undershirt and jeans to grab my phone charger. He must have seen it then.
“Yes. It is.”
“Hmmm…” He gathered our plates and set them in the sink. “Coffee?”
“Please.” Was that it? He wasn’t going to probe?
“Someone took you from your family,” he said, his back to me. “Maybe the same person who sent you toDracul territory? But why? They couldn’t have known what importance you had. There is no way for them to know. No, the motivation must be something unrelated.”
