Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
“Get your bag and whatever else you wish to bring with you. The protection magic you have here weakens when you are away, correct?”
I nodded, going back to get my bag. I glanced at the painting he’d made for me before grabbing hold of it, too. I didn’t want to leave it anywhere. I held the artwork above my laptop bag and allowed the magic to make the opening wide for me to put the canvas carefully inside.
“She truly does not need to say a spell?” Jabari muttered in shock when the whole large canvas disappeared into my little bag, and I zipped it closed.
“No, I don’t. My magic knows what I want it to do,” I said as I turned back to him. “So, how do we go?”
“Interesting. My gift works a bit in the same way. I know where I wish to go and wish to go there. Then I am there. So if you wanted to go to Ankeiros, you could have simply appeared there as I do?” Jabari asked.
I thought about it. “Maybe? I’ve never used my magic to travel before. I don’t think I want to try either because my magic sometimes doesn’t get my desires exactly. I could wish to go to Paris, France, and end up in Paris, Texas, in a massive crowd.”
“That is why I must know the exact room or door I wish to be in,” he said, offering his right hand to his brother and then his other to me. When I took it, Theseus frowned. “Do not mind him. The newly mated never wish for theirs to be touched by another vampire.”
“Mated?”
“Jabari,” Theseus warned.
“Close your eyes, Ms. Omeron. This may make you dizzy.”
I shut my eyes tightly and tried not to squeeze their hands. Please let this not be a bad idea.
* * *
It felt like being at the very top of a roller coaster, then being dropped down with so much force that it sent your stomach flying into your throat.
Oh, God.
“I have you,” Theseus said. He held my arms as I nearly fell over. I tried to open my eyes, but the world was spinning. “It takes some getting used to.”
“That is an understatement,” I said, opening my eyes again and taking a deep breath. “I think I will stick to planes after today.”
“Here should be a good place to give you both a moment to collect yourselves,” Jabari said beside us, and I glanced around to see that we were in an art studio of some sort. Jabari stepped closer and tapped Theseus’s chest. “I do you suggest you do not come up wearing this. You know Ulrik will make a scene about it.”
Theseus glanced down at the chlamys I’d given him that he was still wearing, then back to Jabari. “Thank you, brother.”
“I have done as I was ordered. Rhea said to bring you home but not which part of the home. Take your time,” he replied, glanced over to me. “Fortify yourself, Ms. Omeron. You are about to go up against a dragon.”
Before I could say anything, he was gone again.
“I thought he wasn’t trying to make me nervous,” I said to Theseus.
“Are you nervous?” he inquired as he undid the chlamys at his shoulder.
“Except for the cabin, I’ve never been in a vampire’s home or surrounded by so many vampires.” I could feel them all, dozens of them all around, causing the hair on the back of my neck to rise. All over my body, I was covered in goose bumps. The more I focused on it, the worse it became and my tension increased. This was insane. I hunted vampires, and now I was just strolling into one of their homes?
“I will not allow anyone to hurt you,” he whispered, cupping my face in his hands. “Take a breath.”
I inhaled and exhaled once and then a second time. It didn’t do much. “They are all waiting for us, right—”
“Did we have a fight earlier?” he asked randomly.
“What?” I thought back. “When? We didn’t fight.”
“When you crossed your arms and glared down at me like a bull for not telling you that my mother had called.”
I huffed. “I was not glaring like a bull. I was…I was just normally glaring. And it wasn’t a fight!”
“It felt like the beginnings of a fight.”
“Well, it wasn’t. It was a misunderstanding, and you cleared it up.”
“So, we have not had our first fight?” he inquired as he folded the cloth in his hands carefully. “Pity.”
“Why? Do you want to fight?”
“I hear it is a pivotal phase in the building of a relationship.”
I stared at him, the seriousness on his face and in his tone, and for some reason, I couldn’t help but giggle.
“What is amusing?”
Reaching up, I clasped the sides of his face. “You are. So amusing that I do not know if I ever want to fight with you.”