“I didn’t mean to make you wait, I apologize,” I offered, realizing I was always apologizing to her.
“You didn’t. Make me wait, I mean,” she straightened her posture and fidgeted nervously, her right hand pressing the fingers of her left hand back as far as they could go. “Eden sent me out to find you. She said you would be hungry.”
Eden could have easily called me herself, without ever lifting a finger. Huh….
I closed the space between us faster than she was ready for and she bounced back against the stone wall of the small French house. She looked up at me from under thick lashes. Her magic was already intertwined with mine, although I could tell she was trying to hold it back.
Only Titans were capable of feeling other Immortal’s magic, unless there was a physical and emotional relationship between the two. Once the magic between two Immortals started to intertwine, they could both feel the separate magic once they started to touch. I couldn’t tell by the fearful look in her eyes if she could feel my magic or not. I didn’t want to scare her off, she was obviously skittish, but I did want her to feel it between us.
I wanted her to know this was getting deeper between us.
“I’m glad we have a moment to talk,” she broke me from my thoughts and I realized I had been staring down at her, trapping her from escaping.
Oops.
“Yeah? About what?” I asked and even I could hear the sexy sound to my voice. This girl did not stand a chance.
“About Jericho,” she replied, and I could tell she was forcing herself to stand strong. Her gaze flickered to my lips and I forced myself not to move a muscle, not even give into the cocky smile I was biting back.
“Ok,” I nodded my ascent, knowing there was nothing to talk about.
“I didn’t mean to give you the impression that Jericho and I were a couple,” she started sheepishly.
I couldn’t help myself; I leaned in towards her and was rewarded well when her breathing picked up frantically. “You didn’t?” I asked casually.
“Uh, uh,” she shook her head like she was trying to clear it. I leaned in further. “We’re obviously not…. a couple,” she clarified and then laughed breathlessly. The cool autumn breeze lifted her hair off her shoulders and she reached up to brush her hair out of her face. I inhaled her perfume; she’s all around me and all I could smell was vanilla and lilacs. “What I meant is that I like Jericho. I don’t know if he likes me back or anything yet, but I um, I really like him. And I didn’t want you to get mixed signals.” She cleared her throat, seeming to focus better and straightened her shoulders.
“What are you so scared of, Amelia?” I whispered, dipping my head nearer to hers. She turned to look out at the sunflowers, pulling her lip in with her teeth.
“Scared of? Nothing,” she was quick to defend herself and when I chuckled at her, she changed her story. “Well, right now I’m a little frightened that you’re going to try to kiss me again.”
“Liar,” I ground out, so close to her I could feel her heart beating against my chest.
“Liar?” she asked, turning her face back to mine. Her tongue moved slowly across her bottom lip inviting me to prove it to her.
“Mmm…” I agreed, still waiting on her. But when her defiant little chin tilted in my direction I lost all logical thought and intention and captured her mouth with mine.
She let out a moan against my lips and my hands responded to the sound by grabbing her roughly around the waist and pulling her into me. Her answer to that was kissing me deeper; her hands snaked around my neck, holding her body against mine. I pressed her into the wall while our magic threaded together around us. I felt her electricity pulsing wildly inside mine and I consciously covered hers completely with my magic, claiming her as mine.
Eden squeaked inside my head. Sebastian’s looking for you. And he’s pissed!
I grunted out a growl of frustration, giving Amelia one last desperate kiss. Our tongues tangled together, her hands were hot against my neck, twisting almost painfully in my hair. I slipped my hands under the hem of her sweater, pressing against the silky heat of her skin. She felt incredible in my arms, like perfection and excitement…. like I could handle the weight of forever if I had this to look forward to every day.
Because I could tell that this would never get old. No matter how long this infinite life of mine lasted.
This…. Amelia…. was my completion.
I felt Sebastian’s magic approach and knew I had to end this. Although, since this girl was so intent on playing games with me, I decided to test out a theory and play my own games. Regretfully I pulled back, separating our lips. She followed me, trying to stall the ending and I let her get one more sexy kiss in, her tongue teasing my bottom lip before it turned into a bite. My breath whooshed out of me as my blood heated fast to a boil with desire.
I could play games too, but with kisses like those I would never be in control.
“Told you,” I mumbled against her lips, where they still worked feverishly for me to lose my mind.
“Told me what?” she pulled back, her eyes bright and wild with adrenaline.
“That you were a liar,” I laughed. I buried my face in the crook of her neck, taking one big breath of her and then kissed her creamy skin slowly…. gently.
She shuddered in my arms just as Sebastian reached the other side of the door. I pulled away, leaving her to glare after me. She looked adorable with mussed hair and swollen lips. She stayed against the wall like I had physically molded her into it. I gave her a casual smile and then turned away to meet Sebastian right as he pulled on the handle.
“Thanks for letting me know about dinner,” I called back to her. “Oh, hey, Sebastian.”
“Avalon, everyone’s looking for-“ he stopped when his eyes found his sister, still pushed against the stone wall. “Mimi, is everything all right?”
“Mmm-hmmm,” was her dazed and weak reply. I couldn’t have stopped the smug grin that spread across my face if I wanted to.
Sebastian’s stare moved from me to his sister and then narrowed in distrust. I scooted by him quickly, not wanting to hang around for probing questions. Amelia wasn’t quite ready to admit she had feelings for me for whatever reason but I couldn’t deny the sense of satisfaction that came with leaving her all confused and flustered. I smirked to myself, but then dropped it when the kitchen and dining room filled with people seemed to scrutinize my every move. Everything stilled as I moved to get a plate down from the cabinet. I elbowed my way through the small space to get to the stove, deciding we could not all stay here, there just wasn’t enough room. I felt every eye follow my every move and I knew it had to do with the shit-eating grin I was wearing, but I couldn’t seem to wipe the damn thing off my face.
“What?” I asked out loud.
Nobody answered; they just got back to eating. The sounds of forks and knives scraping plates filled the house and soon low chatter distracted everybody from my awkward entrance. Everybody except Eden, who sat at the table with a knowing smile of her own.
Just enjoy the show. I mumbled inwardly to her. She turned and winked at me. Brat.
I opened my mouth to embarrass her in a lame attempt to at revenge for thinking she knew everything. Even though she had saved me from Sebastian and his overprotective-brotherliness, I still felt the need to even the playing field on which she seemed to have the advantage right now. But before I could say anything, a violently strong wave of nausea smacked me in the face and I reeled from the hit. My mouth watered disgustingly as if I suddenly had way too much saliva and my throat burned like it was preparing for what was coming up.
I had never been sick before, and other than the disgusted feelings that came with watching Immortals destroy their own kind, these feelings were completely new to me. I clutched at my stomach and set my plate down realizing it was the food that was making me feel this way and that I was very abruptly no longer hungry.
Damn.
The last thing I wanted w
as for Amelia to see me unable to eat her dinner.
The nausea hit me again and I realized it was twice as strong this time. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Eden lean forward and clutch the table. She could feel it too.
Panic was the first emotion I had to sort through as the room spun around me. Eden and I didn’t get sick. What the hell was going on?
King’s Curse? No. This was miserable, but way to gentle.
Residual from Titus? Possible. But not probable.
My gaze flickered back to Eden who was turning green trying not to throw up all over the table in front of everyone.
“Magic, Eden,” I growled through clenched teeth, hating how my mouth just kept watering. The feeling was unpleasant and irritating and I had no desire to find out what throwing up felt like. I had Eden’s memories to fill in the blanks for me.
Eden. The sickness was coming from her. It had to be something left over from Titus.
The green color of her skin turned bright red with embarrassment, but she listened. Her magic solved the queasiness and I could stand up again without feeling like I was going to faint or puke. I felt so much better, but a quick glance at Eden revealed that she was still panicking.
“Are you Ok, E?” I asked, rushing over to her. I tried to keep my voice low so I wouldn’t embarrass her anymore, but I was worried.
“Avalon, I’m fine,” she laughed off. I heard the nervous tones in her voice and wondered if anyone else did.
“Eden, Love, is something wrong?” Kiran was at her side in a second, looking from me to her for an explanation.
“I’m fine, babe, Avalon’s overreacting,” she shot me a sideways glance that was…. angry. Why was she angry?
“E….” I warned. She stomped discreetly on my foot.
“I don’t like peas,” she whispered to Kiran, pretending like she didn’t want to offend Amelia.
She did like peas. Kiran should know that and realize something was wrong. I wasn’t going to say anything, it wasn’t my place. But Eden shouldn’t be keeping things from any of us.
“You don’t? I’ve seen you eat them before,” Kiran commented, his forehead creasing in concern. Good man, Kiran. I was happy he wasn’t oblivious. Something like that could have gotten by Eden if the tables were turned, but the rest of us were observant.
“Uh, I don’t like canned peas,” she adjusted her lie. Only this one could be bought, since the entire dinner had been thrown together from a collection of canned foods. This was a trick any of us in the original Resistance could have done and I had to wonder how a pampered princess like Amelia had been able to pull it off.
“Oh,” Kiran relented, not looking convinced.
“You guys worry, way too much!” she sighed and then got up to empty her still mostly full plate.
I stood with Kiran watching her walk away.
“Avalon is she telling me the truth?” Kiran whispered in a hoarse voice.
“I don’t know. Does anybody like canned peas?” I deflected.
“I guess that’s true,” Kiran mumbled and then followed Eden upstairs where presumably he was going to get to the bottom of this.
What’s going on, Eden? I growled. Be honest with me, I’ll know if you’re lying.
Avalon, it’s nothing. It’s just left over from healing Titus today. The same kind of stuff used to happen after I healed people with the King’s Curse. She explained patiently, but she sounded exhausted. I felt as she gathered stuff for a shower and knew this would be a short conversation. Very short.
Not the exact same. I reminded her.
Well, I didn’t heal Titus from the King’s Curse, did I? she snapped.
It wasn’t like her to get irritable either.
If it happens again, then we’ll worry about it. For now, let’s just assume it had something to do with Titus, alright? She asked calmly this time.
Ok, fine. I agreed and then left her head completely. She was getting in the shower to avoid me and to avoid Kiran.
Something was going on.
Chapter Twenty
“Is Eden ready yet?” I asked impatiently. She had been taking her sweet time getting ready to leave and she was driving me crazy. Since she had completely blocked our telepathic communication when my nagging had gotten maybe a little extreme, I had to resort to asking her husband, who was equally as unamused with me.
I had two nights in Paris with Amelia. What had turned into an emergency stopover was now a diplomatic visit. It had been decided that Eden, Kiran, Sebastian, Amelia and I would stay at the Cartier’s house and do a proper visit while we waited for Titus to get back to full strength.
Everyone else was staying at the cottage and planning out our next step. At first I was maybe a little upset about the living arrangements…. It physically hurt me to walk away from a mission to go endure diplomacy in a stuffy house with stuffy people.
Then Amelia had called me a petulant child, and immediately my attitude changed.
This wasn’t going to feel like suffering through monotonous duty, this was going to be a challenge. I had two days to make that girl fall for me.
Well, one and a half and I was losing that half the longer Eden took.
“Avalon if you’re so anxious to get into town why don’t you take one of your cars and
we’ll follow behind when Eden’s ready,” Kiran offered. I could tell his patience with me was running thin, but I suspected it had more to do with how worried about Eden he was than my whining. “Either Sebastian or Amelia can ride with you. Or go by yourself, Bianca and Jean are expecting you.”
“Excellent idea!” I beamed. I should have thought of this thirty minutes ago. Argh.
I walked outside and threw my backpack in the trunk of the Fiat and then went on a mission to hunt down Amelia. The moon was bright overhead, full and huge. It lit up the countryside so luminously I barely had to use any magic to see through the darkness. I knew she wasn’t inside the house and so I went on a search for her on the property.
The field of sunflowers lay behind the cottage on rolling hills. I surveyed the area with a mixture of distrust and hope. Girls loved that Gabriel bewitched the flowers to bloom all the time. Even now their large, flowery heads tilted toward the light of the moon. But honestly, they creeped me out. Flowers were supposed to die. Everything had a season, born to this world and then eventually taken from this world. And Gabriel had defied the natural order of things with his bewitchment.
I paused when I saw Amelia’s figure standing in front of the stretching field. Her hair whipped around behind her in the breeze. She pulled it over her shoulder, tying it in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. I watched her slender shoulders rise and drop with a long sigh. The nape of her neck was exposed to me and I wondered if she knew what revealing that kind of perfect skin and silhouette could do to a man?
Probably not. She probably had no idea the hold she had over me.
I cleared my throat so I wouldn’t scare her when I approached and then sidled up next to her, careful not to touch her. She stared out at the flowers, deep in thought and only acknowledged me with a lift of her eyebrow. Her arms folded around her as if to protect herself from me. And she shivered in the night breeze although I knew she couldn’t be cold.
We stood there for a while, watching the night and the unnatural sunflowers.
“These flowers give me the heebs,” I admitted, breaking our comfortable silence.
“The heebs?” she asked, her nose crinkling with the question.
“You know, the heebs, like heebie jeebies,” I explained.
She laughed out loud, the clear tone of her voice carrying into the wind. It made me smile with her. There was just something so charming and open about her personality, something that made me want to always laugh with her, or smile with her. She was smart and observant, quick and compassionate, shrewd and breath-taking all at once and she wasn’t even aware of any of it.
“How very brave of you,” she commented, her laughter dying dow
n into an amused smile. She looked down at the flowers and crinkled her nose again. Was this her confused expression? “And why do they give you the…. heebs?”
“Probably because they don’t die,” I answered honestly. “They’re supposed to die. It’s like Gabriel froze nature here, like he stifled it, smothered it and not allowed the natural course of life to take place.”
“That’s awfully ironic,” she challenged. “Considering you fought tooth and nail for our people so that we wouldn’t have to face the natural course of things.”
I pondered that for a long moment, taking in her argument and her delicate profile that never stopped watching the flowers. “That’s not true,” I started gently, so she would know I wasn’t being defensive. “Lucan, excuse me, not even Lucan, it started with Derrick. The Kendrick line was the one that stifled our natural course, froze our people in a way of life that was foreign and unnatural for them. Nobody knows why we were gifted with these abilities and longevity, but we were. Our people were always supposed to be able to live and never die, to have incredible powers, to be separate from the human race. It was our people that changed our nature. Flowers are not meant to live forever, but we are. The chance to die was taken from these flowers, like our chance to live was taken from us.”
Amelia was silent for a few minutes, thinking over what I said. When she finally decided to answer I sucked in a breath and held it. “You’re right, of course. Life was taken from our people and you are the one that gave it back. And you’re right that in some things death is welcome, death is…. needed. But Gabriel offered to these flowers what no other flower on Earth can have and that is a chance to be immortalized. It’s not a tragedy, it’s a gift. A gift that one day you’ll give to your future wife too.”
The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) Page 16
