A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(52)

“No, no, no. Out of the question,” I replied, slightly alarmed. “I’m not willing to listen to any of this talk about death and—”

“Aida, listen to me.” He cut me off, taking a few steps toward me until I had to drop my head back to look in his eyes. “Don’t focus on the negative. Let’s enjoy this moment, now. Let’s just be with each other. What do you say?”

His voice was low and soft, making my heart flutter. I licked my lips almost instinctively, and his gaze caught the movement, darkening for a brief moment. I nodded slowly.

“Okay,” I replied. “What now?”

“Now, we eat.” Field smiled and motioned for me to sit.

He joined me, his face just a few inches from mine, and pointed at the blanket rolls on the left.

“We can even sleep here, if you’d like,” he added.

“Under the stars?” I asked, then looked up and remembered the small roof. “Kind of?”

He laughed lightly, beaming at me as he nodded. He looked so beautiful, the candlelight casting its amber glow on his face, accentuating his sharp cheekbones and the blade of his nose.

“Won’t it get cold?” I had no idea where these silly questions were coming from. His body so close to mine made me feel deliciously and hilariously anxious, shutting my senses down and turning me into a shy little wolf-girl who didn’t know what to do with a hot guy she’d been crushing on for years.

His eyelids came down, obscuring his turquoise gaze as it moved from my eyes to my lips, then back to my eyes.

“I can keep you warm. That won’t be a problem.”

And so, my heart skipped a beat and my toes curled in my boots as I found myself speechless before him.

We started eating, as I’d already skipped lunch. We didn’t say much for a while, just occasionally glanced at each other. I felt like I needed to fill that silence with something. The one thing I lacked was the skill to engage in an interesting conversation while being swept off my feet by his breathtaking bluish green stare.

“I wonder what this world will be like once we destroy Azazel,” I said. “Will they return to the old system of Master Druids leading the Kingdoms, or will they rebuild it under a diff—”

He kissed me. His lips pressed against mine and set off fireworks inside my head. I closed my eyes, blinded by the sensation, my breath stuck in my throat. He tasted sweet, with a hint of the fruit he’d just popped into his mouth.

He pulled his head back and brushed my cheek with his knuckles, looking right into my soul.

“Let’s talk about us tonight. You. Me. This,” he whispered. “Our future.”

I blinked several times, my brain refusing to function properly.

“Our future?” I croaked.

He nodded, giving me such a tender look that I feared I would melt right there and never return to a solid form. I sighed, pushing myself to glance into “our future”. What would I do? What were we going to do, once all this was over? Would we stay here, or move back to The Shade?

I had to admit to myself that Eritopia had been growing on me more and more each day. But what would we do here? Back home we had a purpose. I had GASP to focus on. It had been my ethos since I was a kid, watching Field and my brother sparring on the training grounds.

“I mean, what would we do after this is over?” I mused. “I’d see us going back to The Shade, to be honest. But, at the same time, I’m looking around here, at Calliope alone, and I’m thinking they’ll need all the help they can get to rebuild and establish an order. There will be chaos here after Azazel falls. There will be rebels and anarchists, because we both know there were plenty who joined his army of their own volition. Their population has been decimated by the wars.”

I swallowed another morsel of food, then washed it down with herb-infused water, looking up at the little patch of sky visible from where I sat.

“Eritopia’s kind of growing on me, too,” I added.

“You like it here, huh?”

“I think I do.” I chuckled. “Call me crazy, but it’s beautiful, despite the horrors that have befallen it. The hills seem endless. The fruits are absolutely delicious. Most of the creatures we’ve met are pretty cool.”

“So how would you see yourself staying here?” he asked, his voice low.

“I don’t know. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be the only one staying. It wouldn’t make sense. But maybe if we open a GASP center here, we could help the Eritopians. Maintain the balance. Bring in some of our technologies and help them move past this dark age they’ve been stuck in for so long. I’m pretty sure their Druid magic combined with our jinn and witches would help them progress.”

He didn’t say anything. I gave him a quick sideways glance and saw him looking at me, his expression impossible to read, glazed in the warm glow of the candlelight.

“We could do a lot of good here with a GASP base. And we’d be able to go back to The Shade whenever we wanted. I’m sure Corrine, Ibrahim, and Mona would figure out a way to make the passage easier. Or maybe the Druid can find a more permanent spell for travel. Or a portal. I don’t know, just winging it here,” I babbled on.

Again, Field kept quiet. I looked at him and felt my core expand, a warm light pouring through my veins. The look in his eyes was so soft. So loving. I exhaled sharply, my ribcage swelling with all the emotions I’d been experiencing toward him.