Page 30 of King of the Damned
She smiles and teasingly rolls her eyes. “I think I liked it better when we were fighting all the time.”
“We can go back to that tomorrow. Just give me this night to pretend otherwise.”
We have no music, and no audience, but our dance isn’t any less passionate as it was before. Dancing with her feels ethereal. She’s so confident in the way her body moves. She needs so little direction from me that my presence here feels almost useless, but I wouldn’t trade this moment with her for anything.
Not even…
I pause abruptly as she spins out of my arms and Adelasia’s face falls. I swallow and stiffen my back. “It’s late. Let me take you back to your room so you can sleep.”
I can see in her face that sleep is probably the last thing on her mind right now, but I’m not giving her a choice. I can’t think rationally when she’s around, and this is not the time for me to lose my head.
I have to look away because I can’t stand the disappointment on her face when she takes my arm and allows me to lead her out of the room. The walk to her suite is silent, with only the tap of her light footsteps filling the halls. When we reach our destination, she turns to face me again.
Despite my better judgment, my trembling, still tingling hand brushes a loose strand of hair away from her cheek before I trace the angles of her jaw with my forefinger. When I reach her chin, I use my thumb to feel the fullness of her bottom lip. I hear her stop breathing.
A low growl emanates from deep in my throat before I drop my hand from her face.
“Goodnight, Adelasia,” I whisper as I turn my back to her and slowly retreat down the hall. With each step I take away from her, I grow more and more frustrated at the knowledge that I haven’t heard her door open. She’s still in the hall, watching me walk away from her.
I stop walking and drop my head in defeat, and that’s when I notice the golden vow line on my hand is glowing still, and the black one seems to be throbbing in sync with her heartbeat. With all the enhanced speed my curse of vampirism gives me, I’m standing in front of her again in an instant, so quick it causes her to gasp and step backward into her bedroom door.
“Damn you,” I whisper, before gently grabbing her throat and pulling her lips to meet mine. She lets out a sound of shock, but quickly meets my fervor with her own. Her hands fist themselves into my coat as she pulls me deeper into her. She melts into my embrace, practically going weak at the knees.
When I break the kiss to let her breathe, the gravity of what I’ve just done devastates me. Without saying another word to her, I walk away.
And this time, I keep walking.
I find myself in my private study among old, dusty tomes and candles that haven't been lit in centuries. I hardly ever come in here, only when I need absolute silence and a place to think.
I flop into my large wingback chair and prop my feet up on the black marble desk.
The dagger that has become both my salvation and my worst enemy in the past few hours sticks out of my boot. I take it from its sheath and hold it by the blade in my hand, examining it carefully.
I sigh quietly to myself. “What have I done?”
Kissing Adelasia is one of the worst sins I’ve ever committed.
Now she’ll feel rejected at the first hesitance of any further affection, and what’s worse, is if she wasn’t already growing attached, she certainly is now.
I take it back, the worst part is that she doesn’t even know why she feels a pull between us, but I do—and it’s not for the original purpose of her presence in my life.
What a mess.
I can still feel the softness of her lips against mine. I can still feel the passion and I can still hear the soft sigh of pleasure when she melted into me. I can still see the desire in her eyes asking me to do it again before I walked away. It’s woven in the deepest part of my thoughts.
And with this damned vow on my skin still golden, even she knows she’s still on my mind. She’s been engrained there since I met her. She’s burrowed her way into my soul and now I’ve developed…feelings. Feelings Ishouldn’thave for the only thing keeping me from earning my mortality back.
One more night.
That was all that was supposed to be standing between me and the only thing I’ve wanted for the entire millennium I’ve been living with vampirism. Now I’ve gone and added a kiss to that equation.
I’ve never known myself to be so stupid.
“Cassius,” I call out softly. “Are you in here?”
I don’t look away from the dagger as I wait a few moments. Cassius slithers up the side of the desk and coils himself on the edge.
“Tell me what to do,” I beg. “I can’t be trusted to make wise decisions when I can still feel her lips on mine.”
