Page 21 of Blood Slumberm
She smoothed the rich embroidery on the front of his tunic. “You look perfect.”
He leaned his ear closer. “What was that? Did I mishear you, or did a Pavo princess give me her approval?”
“Enjoy it while you can, Taurus.”
He beckoned to her. “I think I need you to repeat that.”
“Never.” She stepped back. “Now for that Hesperine disguise you promised me.”
He folded his arms and considered her. Magic caressed her, and she suppressed a shiver. “That should do nicely.”
She picked up a bronze hand mirror and looked at her reflection. “I look exactly the same!”
“I am no illusionist, but all Hesperines can cast veil spells that subtly conceal. Even if someone who once knew you looks right at you, they won’t recognize you.”
She stared at her crow’s feet and silver hairs in the mirror. She was older than him, and life in the temple had aged her beyond her years. “You make a very convincing prince just back from thewars, but no one will believe I am your new bride. Men like you marry fresh maidens.”
He stepped even closer to her, his presence, his scent, overwhelming. She breathed in orange, neroli, and oak as his dark magic shadowed her arcane senses.
He lowered his head toward her, slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away.
She tilted her face up toward him.
He took her chin in his hand and brought his mouth down on hers. He held her there as he kissed her lips roughly apart and stroked deep with his tongue. She could have broken free of his careful grip, but she didn’t. The mirror slipped from her grasp onto the carpet. She flattened her hands on his hard chest and stood transfixed.
At last, he let her up for air. She tried to breathe, her head floating. He tucked back a strand of hair that had escaped from her headband. She must look like a ravished new bride. She certainly felt like one.
He gazed down at her, his eyes incandescent gold. “If anyone doubts our ruse, I will make a believer out of them.”
He’d half made a believer out of her, even though she knew the truth. It was all for the plan, of course. For the kill.
At the gates of the manor, Troi wrapped himself and Celandine in veil spells that would hide them from every mortal eye. He felt the urge to wrap her up tightly in his arms, too, and carry her in the opposite direction of their enemies.
Why were his protective instincts raging like this tonight? She could take care of herself, and all he should be thinking of was how he would kill Rixor and Kaion.
They halted at the boundary of the Sanctuary wards. He stared at the infernal ring of fire that had kept him bound here for the last century. With a few twirls of Celandine’s spindle, the fire sank away.
He was free. By her hand.
He stepped over the threshold and into the current world.
Human emotion rolled through him and made him stagger a step back. The wards had kept him insulated from the life of the city, and now it felt as if he had swallowed all of Corona’s excitement and greed and desire.
Celandine caught his arm. “Troi?”
“I’m all right. Merely…adjusting.” He stood up straighter and mustered his control of his Hesperine abilities, such as it was.
The historical street of ancestral manors was mostly recognizable, at least. But the celebrants strolling by or passing in their horse litters were dressed in a dizzying array of styles that he had not imagined in his lifetime.
He tracked a woman’s bare throat with his gaze. “Such revealing fashions these days. Why are you wearing a high collar that goes up to your chin?”
She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “A prince once told me decorum adds to the excitement of the chase.”
He traced a finger down her collar, touching the site of his bite through the fabric. “Are you enjoying the chase?”
The color deepened on her cheeks. “You did not misrepresent your skills.”
Hidden by his magic, they left the Taurus district. A wide boulevard lined with orange trees was the only border that divided the city residences of the two feuding dynasties, but it had been an impassable divide for generations. Arm in arm with Celandine, Troi walked into enemy territory.
