A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(27)

My frustration bubbled beneath the quiet surface, but I couldn’t deny the truth I saw in his gaze. Reluctantly, I concluded that he was being honest. The dreams weren’t his doing. They were mine and mine alone. My heart pounded in my chest, and I swallowed, unable to say anything in return.

Shame and embarrassment crept up and burned my throat. I looked away, trying to focus on something in the distance—a tree, a shrub, anything that I could focus on to regain my composure.

Bijarki didn’t move, and he didn’t take his eyes off me; I felt them searing into me.

“What is it you think I made you dream of?” came the question I didn’t want him asking.

I couldn’t bear to look at him, but I sensed he was smiling through his words. “It’s nothing important,” I replied, my voice barely a whisper.

“It must have been, since you felt the need to walk straight out of bed to confront me about it.” He wasn’t ready to let this go.

I looked at him and instantly regretted it, as his gaze once again captured my breath.

“It doesn’t matter. It wasn’t you, and I apologize for wrongfully accusing you.” I tried to keep myself upright, waging an internal battle against my jello legs.

He tilted his head to one side, and his expression softened to one that made my blood rush all over, prickling my fingers and toes. “Did you dream about me, Vita?”

“It’s none of your business,” I said and turned my back on him. I couldn’t bear another minute so close to him. His proximity had a devastating effect on my self-control, and I needed time and space to process that, to accept that all these hot dreams I’d been having of Bijarki were the product of my own desires.

He didn’t insist. “My apologies,” he replied. “But I will continue to keep my distance, as per your request. I’m going away, so you won’t see me for a few days anyway. It should bring you some comfort.”

I froze. Fair enough. It should have brought me at least some form of relief. But the part of me that had been eager to be near him was thoroughly disappointed.

I turned my head just enough to get a glimpse of him from the corner of my eye. “How so?” I asked, hoping I sounded as disinterested as I intended.

“Draven and I are taking Anjani back to her tribe. We’re looking to forge an alliance with the succubi against Azazel and increase our chances at fighting back.”

I nodded, but all I could think of was an entire tribe of succubi as shimmering and seductive as Anjani surrounding Bijarki under the moonlight, their hands moving down his body, fingers delighted by his silvery skin. I shifted my weight from one leg to the other, trying to move past the uncomfortable state I’d put myself in.

I’d come at Bijarki so strong and aggressive and horribly wrong about his intentions, and he was about to go meet with an entire group of devastatingly gorgeous succubi, leaving me on my own with my frustrations and shame. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about this with anyone. How had my most intimate thoughts and dreams become so tangled with my visions of the future?

My transition as an Oracle seemed to be just as eventful as Aida’s, except mine played different mind tricks, making me confuse real visions and lustful dreams of Bijarki. Like I didn’t have enough to deal with already.

The silence weighed heavily between us. He waited for me to respond, but when I didn’t say anything, he turned to the mansion.

He passed me, throwing me a fleeting look that I couldn’t decipher—a sideways glance with his silver-blue irises flaring at me—and walked toward the main entrance with broad steps.

“Bijarki,” I called out, this time in a softer tone.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“Please be careful,” I said. “Come back in one piece.”

Bijarki turned to face me, and I held my breath. Thoughts seemed to run through his mind as his eyebrows slightly twitched. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out.

I didn’t have much to offer in order to make up for my earlier blunder, but at least I could be a decent person and try not to make him feel like I loathed him. “We’re all safer with you around, whether we like each other or not,” I added, just to make sure I was getting the right message across.

His face lit up, and he nodded, turned, and disappeared into the mansion.

A few days with him absent would be a good thing. It would provide me with an opportunity to reflect on everything and put things in perspective. I needed to understand how I felt about him and to figure out what, if anything, I could do about it.





Jovi





[Victoria & Bastien’s son]





I slept like a rock. Not a single dream, just deep slumber away from everyone and everything. The previous day’s events had obviously sucked my energy dry. When I awoke, Anjani was gone. I didn’t see Serena or the Druid anywhere, and then I remembered they’d talked about traveling up north to meet with her tribe.

I glanced to my right to find Phoenix still comatose. As I watched his chest rise slowly with each breath, I felt guilty. I’d only been trying to do the right thing by diving into the jungle yesterday, but nothing could change the fact that, if I hadn’t done it, Phoenix wouldn’t have left the boundary either. He wouldn’t be in this condition now.