Page 54 of Edge of Darkness (Night Prowler 4)
“Caesar,” she whispered.
“Ironic, isn’t it, that’s what he should be named?”
“Ironic,” Ember echoed quietly. She lay very still in his arms. Christian, probably sensing the tumult inside her, was still and silent as well. Waiting.
She mulled it over, assuming hysteria would take over again any moment. But the thing she kept returning to again and again—in spite of the logical side of her brain insisting she should really be focusing on what he’d done in that alley—was how truly incredible he was. She hated when people used the word “magical” to describe things they couldn’t or didn’t understand, but in this circumstance it seemed exactly the right word.
He—and the rest of his kind—were nothing short of magical. Beautiful, magical, and, without a doubt, deadly.
That’s when we learned our most clever disguise of all…
Curiosity getting the better of her anxiety and ambivalence, Ember tentatively asked, “So you can change to any shape you want?”
“No. We can’t, not anymore. We don’t know exactly why, but it might be because we’ve spent so many generations pretending to be human, living in human form. All of us can Shift into our animal form, but now only some of us can Shift to Vapor, as you saw me do. Although,” he chuckled, “you’re the only person who’s ever seen me do that. Even my family doesn’t know I have that particular Gift.”
“Why not?”
He sighed. “It’s complicated. Our Laws, well, let’s just say power has to be proven. And as I’m the younger brother of the leader—if the colony knew I had Vapor, like he does, his dominance would be called into question unless—”
“Unless you fought each other,” guessed Ember.
She guessed right because Christian’s voice darkened and he said, “Leander has already had to do enough terrible things to stay in control. It would kill him if he had to fight me—if he had to hurt me to keep his position. So I keep my secret to myself and everyone’s better off.”
“I wonder how many others are doing that, too?”
He murmured, “I can’t tell you how often I’ve wondered the exact same thing.”
They were silent for a while, then Ember asked, “So you can change to animal or mist, you have amazing speed, and heightened senses, you’re strong, and you heal fast…anything else?”
“There are as many different Gifts as there are grains of sand on a beach, some as unique as the pattern on a snowflake. There’s Suggestion, Sight, Passage, Elemental Control, Telepathy, Shielding, Invisibility—”
Ember gasped. “Invisibility!”
“And every once in a great while, a Skinwalker comes along—”
“Skinwalker? That sounds disgusting,” Ember interrupted again, now grimacing.
From behind her he laughed silently, shaking the bed. Once under control, he said, “It’s just a term we borrowed from the Navajo lexicon. A Skinwalker has all the Shifting abilities of the original Ikati. He can change to anything he wants: wind, fire, a dragon, a falcon. There’s only one of us now who can do that now.”
Astonished, Ember whispered, “A dragon?”
In a soft, oddly melancholy voice, Christian said, “Yes. Shimmering white and sinuous, with silver-tipped wings, spiked barbs along her powerful tail, and a silken ruff like a horse’s mane down her long neck.” His voice grew even softer, and he murmured, “She’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”
Sharp as scissors cutting through her heart, jealousy flared inside her.
Who was this beautiful creature that he—such a beautiful creature himself—sounded so enamored with? And why did it hurt so much?
From the living room, Asher shouted, “Five minutes!”
Ember blew out a heavy breath. She muttered, “I should probably go do something about that.”
Christian propped himself up on his elbow and stared down at her, his green gaze penetrating. “Does that mean I’m staying?”
She tried to slip out of his arms to stand up, but he held her there, too strong to bother fighting, and grasped her chin. “Does it?” he murmured.
In a barely audible voice she asked, “Do you want to stay?”
His brows drew together, and for a moment he looked almost angry. “Why do you ask me questions you already know the answer to, little firecracker?”
