Page 34 of Immortal Sins
My nostrils flare, but I stagger forward until I reach Flynn.
“Kneel,” he whispers quickly.
I obey his command, bound by my promise.
I cannot for the life of me bring myself to look up at Cole, but I peek at his companion.
The red Fae scratches the armrest of her seat with her long, pointy nails. “Have you chosen a favorite, brother?”
A vicious cramp in my stomach dizzies me. I’m no one and nothing here. This was a mistake.
Cole stands, moving with considered carefulness and grace. My cheeks burn hot with disappointment. I don’t know what kind of welcome I expected, but it wasn’t this.
My soul screams. This place is the antithesis of everything I stand for. This elitist palace disgusts me, and I struggle to reconcile the not-so-secret excitement I nurtured about finally seeing Cole again with the reality of this stiff and pompous reunion.
His feet are bare, and I follow the familiar shape of his legs up to his sculpted chest and past his squared shoulders. Blue accents glisten on his skin, and red freckles shine in his amber eyes. The glass ceiling above us somehow directs all its light onto him. The colors swirl inside my mortal brain in a vertiginous dance.
He was already a lot to take in back home, but here, unmuted, untainted by my world, and surrounded by the power given to him by his birthright, he no longer appears human. He’s not the man I fought against. He’s not the mischievous teammate I studied with in the library, the evil ninja gravedigger, or even the vicious owner of a demon familiar.
I do not recognize this version of him, and it scares me to my core. A sickly sheen of sweat gathers on my palms.
“Leave us,” Cole commands. The dark inflections of his voice burrow in every cell of my body.
The slaves on either side of him throw me jealous looks. Everyone that was present in the room before our arrival leaves, except Cole’s sister.
“I can’t wait to hear this.” She chuckles like this is all some kind of live entertainment.
“Helena, this is Flynn Verinos,” Cole says.
She licks her crisp, red lips and stretches to her feet, each move perfectly choreographed. “It’s the mortal that interests me.” She glides down the altar one step at a time and angles my chin up with the back of her index finger.
Humiliation simmers at the back of my throat.
“Jolie.” The hypnotic chime sparks an itch on my neck. She releases me and angles her flawless body to Cole. “Bring them to your quarters. You have about an hour before Mother finds out.”
14
LABYRINTH
Glossy floors melt into one another, tears blurring my vision. When we pass a brass, copper, and silver sigil, Flynn slows down his frantic pace. Cole dashes for a door that’s half-hidden by the expansive decorations on the wall and ushers me inside a secluded, round stairwell.
The staircase runs many floors up and down, but it’s clearly meant for the staff. Small torches burn along the gray walls at regular intervals to make up for the lack of windows. Spiderwebs weave around the flickering flames, and the acrid smell of mold grate my nose.
Flynn closes the door behind us and pries the unicorn horn from his boot. “We need to safeguard this.”
Cole squeezes his shoulder. “Go downstairs and fetch Mary.” Flynn spins around to leave, but the prince grips his elbow. “Thank you, Verinos. I won’t forget this.”
Their foreheads rest on one another for a split second.
Flynn acknowledges the praise with a quick tilt of the head before he hurries down the spiral.
Cole clasps my hand and yanks me in the opposite direction. At the top of the stairs, the passage opens to what I can only assume is his bedroom. His eyes rove my body from head to toe. The expression on his face confirms my worst fears.
“You look…” he trails off.
My fingers cramp around the long skirt. “I need to change out of this.”
I might be a walking fantasy, but the hunger in his eyes isn’t enough to soften my revulsion toward the clothes.
