A Tangle of Hearts (A Shade of Vampire #44)(7)

“I heard a thump from upstairs, and when I came out, you were on the floor here, mid-seizure,” he replied.

A few moments passed while I analyzed everything. I’d been thinking about the Nevertide Oracle and, the next thing I knew, I saw myself with Bijarki while Destroyers broke into the mansion.

Destroyers invaded the mansion.

“Just keep your distance, please.” I felt the need to reiterate, maybe more for myself than for him.

“As you can see, I’m staying away, but don’t expect me to ignore you if you fall flat on your face with another vision,” Bijarki replied, his voice low and his jaw visibly tense. “Are you all right now?”

I stood. My cheeks flamed. Heat clogged my throat. My body longed for his embrace, and I crossed my arms as though a shield would help. I was still too close to him. I’d just felt his skin on mine; a million miles didn’t seem far enough away.

“I’m fine,” I muttered. I walked past him and dashed into the breakfast room. Maybe a few gallons of water and the presence of my friends would cool everything down.

The door closed behind me with a resounding thud. No one was there. Ugh. I went straight for the water jug and gulped down a full glass, expecting Bijarki to come in and turn the heat up again.

Three glasses later, he had yet to emerge.

I took a deep breath and looked over to the door. Maybe he’d already come in and was standing there like the incubus stalker that he was. What the hell was I doing in bed with him?

He never came.

And why don’t I like the fact that he isn’t here now?

I could punch myself. I’d been so closed off in the past, so afraid to show my true self to anyone, that I’d gotten too comfortable in my little shell. Then came Eritopia and this Oracle business, flooding my mind with the wildest visions of myself. The future basically smacked me in the face, telling me that my introvert nature was about to get the jaws-of-life treatment.

I’d told the incubus to stay away from me. I’d left his side, even when all he’d done was show genuine concern. And when he didn’t come after me, I sulked like a little girl.

Ugh, Vita.





Serena





[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]





I woke up to pain shooting through my back. I sat up. Sunlight hit my face. My spine crackled like an old twig, sending tiny spasms through the muscles attached to it. I rubbed my eyes and allowed myself the loudest yawn I could summon from the bottom of my compressed lungs. As cramped as it was, I missed the bed I normally shared with the girls. The armchair in Draven’s room was far worse.

I’m in Draven’s room.

The realization hit me hard. I looked at the bed and found the Druid sitting up, quiet and motionless. His sand-colored hair was ruffled in various directions. The bandage around his eyes was a grim reminder of what had happened the day before. The runes on his chest were dark brown crusts on otherwise perfectly smooth, tanned skin.

Judging by the smirk on his face, I figured he’d heard my booming yawn. My cheeks simmered, and I waited for him to say something. A few moments passed. I stared at him, taking in the heavy lines of his torso and strong arms, the sculptural blade of his nose, and his lips, arched in a half-smile. I opened my mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Thank you for staying overnight.” Draven's voice was husky but gentle.

That was unexpected. I cleared my throat and nodded, then remembered that he couldn’t see.

“It was the least I could do,” I replied.

Another awkwardly long moment passed. Birds chirped outside in the garden. His smirk persisted.

“It’s ironic how quiet you are right now,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Usually you’re a bundle of questions before the sun even comes up, making my existence ten times more difficult, yet now you’re silent. If it weren’t so relaxing, I’d say it’s odd. Downright uncharacteristic. Even cause for concern. Are you sick, maybe?” Draven went on, still smiling.

In my still-bleary state, his words were a sharp reminder of what I had to do for my own, my brother’s, and my friends’ sakes. Drill the Druid for information. Get closer to him, find out more about him, about his kind, about the Oracles, the Destroyers, Azazel, and everything else that was so fundamentally characteristic yet so wrong about Eritopia. Learn how it had gotten to this point, who or what he really was, and what we could do to stop all the carnage and destruction and rescue ourselves.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself to tackle my mission systematically, one question at a time, provided he was in the mood, of course.

“Speaking of which—” I started and saw him shift immediately, “the Daughters mentioned that the last Daughter must be awoken in order to save Eritopia from Azazel. How do we do that?”

Draven let out a tortuous sigh. I watched the runes on his chest move up and then down. Even with his injuries, he was so handsome that my breath got stuck in my throat.

Focus, Serena.

“I should’ve kept my mouth shut and enjoyed the silence,” Draven said. “Serves me right.”

He scooted to the side of the bed, a grimace of pain twisting his features. He was holding his grunts in, unwilling to show weakness. His legs shifted so that his feet hung in the air as he pushed himself to the edge of the bed.