Secret Heir (Dynasty #1)(57)

She waves her hand dismissively.

“It’s nothing. Call it me making amends for the part I played in all that crazy shit that happened at the beginning of semester.”

It feels like an age away now, but something occurs to me then.

“Isn’t Layla pissed at you for even speaking to me?” On my first day at Regency, I saw Keller walk into class with Layla and Dani was categorical about her description of Keller as one of Layla’s cronies. Although, after getting to know her, it’s difficult to imagine this girl being anyone’s lackey. She’s tough in a way that tells me she doesn’t take shit from anyone, Layla included.

“She can be as pissed as she wants, but she can’t tell me who I can and can’t speak to. I mean I’ve been friends with Layla since forever and she can be nice when she’s not being a bitch. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make other friends. I like you—you’ve got guts and you’re not scared to speak your mind. It’s a rare thing around here, when practically everyone is so caught up in social status and wealth.”

I’m surprised at her insightful response.

I follow Keller onto the ice then and we skate a few rounds before she stops me at the center of the lake.

“Here, try to create something from the ice—like this.” She sweeps her hand up and I watch as the ice beneath us extends upwards to form an elegant spiral figure.

“I can’t do that!” I reply.

We’ve worked on doing snow and wind the past few sessions and I managed to create some icicles last session, but this is entirely different.

Keller’s not taking no for an answer, though, and she’s not someone I want to argue against.

So, I focus on the connection to the ice beneath me and I sort of just lose myself as I begin to move. It feels like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, but at the same time, it feels so familiar—like the feeling of abandonment and calm that washes over me whenever I paint. I realize that it’s because I’m doing the same thing—I’m creating something. But rather than creating it on canvas, I’m using the element of ice itself, bending it to my will to form the beautiful sculptures.

I lose track of space and time as I move and when I stand back to look at my creation, I feel stunned.

Even Keller seems speechless, as we look up at the ice garden that I’ve spun—rose bushes, fountains, statues, intricate railings and terraces all made entirely of ice.

“Whoa …” I hear Lance’s voice behind me and I turn to see that he’s standing on the ice behind us with Raph. I wonder how long they’ve been standing there.

He wonders off to inspect my work and Keller follows him, still looking impressed and proud of her tuition.

I turn to Raph, and the expression on his face touches something in my core.

“That’s amazing, Jaz,” he says quietly. His voice is different than I’ve ever heard before.

“Thanks,” I reply, smiling shyly at him. Something flickers in his eyes as he watches me.

I feel the blush creeping on my cheeks, so I skate away towards the center of the lake where there are twin arches of ice and a canopy of delicate icicles hanging between them.

Raph follows me and I know that Lance and Keller are somewhere in the ice garden, too. But I feel like we’re the only two people in the forest, on this planet even.

“I think there’s one thing missing, though,” Raph says, as he moves closer to me in this sanctuary that I’ve created.

“What?” I ask, though it’s a wonder that I can speak through the pounding of my heartbeat in my ears.

“Snow.”

I look up to see the blanket of snowflakes falling around us. I close my eyes as I let the flakes of snow fall around me, feeling the cool kiss of the snowflakes against my cheeks.

I hear a sharp intake of breath and when I open my eyes, I see Raph staring at me. Like fully staring. The way he’s looking at me, reminds me of that first night in my bedroom when I told him about my past. The look has the same confusing effect on me now, as it did then. Maybe I shouldn’t be confused. Maybe I just need to see it for what it is. Because what it looks like is that he wants to kiss me.

I should be alarmed at that. The thought should make me run as far away from him as possible. This guy hated me not so long ago. He made my life a living hell. The hate is gone, but it doesn’t change who and what Raph is—so devastatingly beautiful, that it’s almost unreal, and he has an entire planet at his feet. He could have anything and anyone that he wants. I’m way out of my depths with this guy. I have zero experience with any of this and testing the waters with a guy who has the ability to shatter my heart into a million pieces if I let him anywhere near it, is a dangerous idea. One that I shouldn’t even be considering.

And yet … yet I can’t stop myself from looking up into those impossibly blue eyes as they look into me, through me. I don’t pull away when he draws closer, although I feel like the air around us is so charged, that I’m finding it difficult to even breathe.

He does something that surprises me, as he brushes those sensuous lips against my closed eyelids, the sensitive skin of his lower lip brushing against my lashes.

When I open my eyes to look at him, those blue eyes are so intense, that it’s difficult to keep looking without feeling like I’m falling through the sky.