A Den of Tricks (A Shade of Vampire #54)(4)

“Maybe I can pick up a scent here,” I said as we walked over to the tree in question.

“Avril, I… I need to talk to you.” Heron caught my right forearm before I could circle the tree for foreign scents. I gazed up at him with both eyebrows raised.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to hold it together. His touch triggered tiny electrical currents flowing through my arms. My heart started pounding, a sensation I was still getting accustomed to whenever he was near me.

He needed a few moments to put his thoughts in order, judging by the way his eyes absently darted around me before they settled on my face.

“I… I need you to be more careful from now on,” he replied, his eyebrows drawn closer, his gaze clouded.

“What do you mean?” I shrugged. “We already know what happened here. No one’s coming at us at this point. It would be foolish.”

“I’m not talking about this. I’m talking about you. Just… Please, be more careful. No more volunteering for swamp witch travel spells and stuff like that. It’s just… Just don’t.”

“Neither of us knew what was going to happen up there, Heron. It’s not like I had any plans to get myself burned alive.” I sighed.

“I know, but… but I almost lost you back there.” The pained look on his face floored me, and I had to swallow back the bundle of emotions working its way up my throat for some reason. “I have never experienced something like that, Avril, and I don’t want to feel it ever again.”

“What… What are you talking about?” My brain slowed down, leaving my body in charge as he gently pulled me closer to him.

“I like having you around,” he replied, his expression softening a little as the shadow of a smile passed over his lips. “So, you know, just be careful.”

I needed a minute to take it all in. Was this Heron’s way of telling me that he liked me? That he was into me? …Maybe as much as I was into him?

“Okay, I promise to do my best not to get myself blown up again.” I gave him a wink, trying to diffuse some of the tension I felt building up. The longer we gazed at each other, the thicker the air between us grew.

He licked his lower lip, then bit it. He let go of my arm, put his hands behind his back, and looked away, somewhere to his left. A muscle twitched in his jaw, and I had a feeling he had more to say, so I waited patiently. I continued asking myself the same questions in the back of my head—what was he really telling me with “I like having you around”?

“You know, I’ve never done Pyrope before, with anyone,” he breathed, then shifted his focus back to me. “It’s a very important ritual to me. I was hoping I’d share my first Pyrope with my soulmate one day.”

It hit me then what he was talking about. I’d offered him my blood back in the Valley of Screams, of my own accord. He’d taken that as Pyrope, the Mara ritual in which non-Maras give their blood willingly, either as a one-off or as a recurring experience. The only solid example I was aware of was the deal between Jax and Zeriel, King of the Tritones. But I also knew that Pyrope was often practiced by mixed couples, and it was a very intimate thing to do.

“I… I’m sorry,” I mumbled, lowering my head and suddenly feeling out of place. “I guess I ruined Pyrope for you, but you know we had no choice. I mean, you were injured, and we needed you healed fast, given our circumstances.”

His fingers gripped my chin as he lifted my head. His gaze found my eyes again, and he gave me a soft smile that sent waves of sunshine through my body, rippling toward the tips of my fingers and toes. He’d never looked at me like that.

“Don’t be sorry,” he replied. “I just didn’t expect my first Pyrope to happen so… fast and unexpected, so broken from tradition, that’s all. I’m not unsatisfied by it happening.”

I stilled. Was I hearing him right? He’d just mentioned experiencing his first Pyrope with his soulmate, but that the circumstances were different from what he’d imagined. Was this his veiled way of telling me that I meant more to him, or was this just me misinterpreting his words?

“Wait… what do you mean, Heron?” I asked, feeling my heart thudding in my chest.

“I guess I—”

“Heron, Avril, come over here for a minute,” Hansa called out, interrupting him.

Argh… Horrible timing!

Heron gave me an apologetic look, and I gave him a brief nod in return, hoping we’d get to resume this conversation later. I took a deep breath and followed him back to the group on the edge of the first level.

My only fear was that I’d misunderstood what he’d just said. It scared me more than I’d thought it could, probably because I was genuinely falling for Heron and I dreaded the thought of it all being one-sided.





Jax





There were too many things going through my head at once, on top of what had already happened before the explosions. I was having a hard time holding it all together, so I tried prioritizing first, and did my best to focus on the attack on the Lords’ mansions.

I could easily blame Hansa for throwing me off balance like that. The impact of her kiss was far more devastating than I’d originally thought. My blood was constantly simmering and my senses were amplified in her presence, as if every atom in my body were suddenly energized just from being close to her.