back to me, his onyx eyes boring into me like two dark and terrifying promises. “Not yet anyway.”
I can feel my skin flush with anger—but with a touch of concern too. The fearful nettles spike through my system, warring with my temper.
“This isn’t the time for storytelling, Arden,” I say quietly, though I’m perfectly aware that there’s nothing private about our exchange right now except the subtext.
He tilts his head in that condescending way that makes me wish he would disappear as swiftly as he arrived.
“Truth or fiction,” he says, “there are lessons to be learned with every story, don’t you think?”
“Arden.” I utter the word through clenched teeth.
It’s a warning, but I already know he won’t be deterred. Arden doesn’t care about our audience or their ignorance about who—what—we truly are. He doesn’t care about Maximus’s possessive clutch on me or the murderous gaze he’s casting down on the demon. All Arden seems to care about is stoking that demigod-level rage and reminding me how perilous our situation here on earth is every chance he gets.
“Why are you even in here?” I finally snap, my composure slipping.
The gleam in his eyes flashes with the reflection of my own gaze. The one made of fury that burns like a five-alarm blaze. His smile broadens, as my ire seems to please him even more.
“I just came in to check on progress with the auction items. Did anything catch your eye? I’m sure the Valaris could add something here to their collection to help a good cause.”
Maximus squeezes my hand. “Come on, Kara. Let’s go.”
I’m too invested in my staring contest with Arden to be pulled away, though. The heat in my eyes seems to grow in tandem with his vicious satisfaction. Have I ever hated someone so much?
“You know what, Arden? Something did catch my eye.”
I release Maximus’s hand and turn toward the auction table. With vehement strokes, I ink an amount on the line that will guarantee we leave this party with the book Maximus was so drawn to. He’ll balk at the price and the gesture, but I’m so angry with Arden I hardly care. Hell, maybe the precious thing will save the rest of our night.
Because the anger rolling off my beloved right now is threatening to ruin all of it.
As sure as I am of that, nothing prepares me for the curveball that comes next—the stunned drop of Jesse’s jaw when I turn back to gracefully exit the room and create space between us and Arden.
Though he recomposes himself with admirable speed, all signs of humor flee his expression. “Oh shit,” he mutters. “You weren’t kidding.”
Chapter Nineteen
Maximus
“Come on.” The grip I secure around Kara’s hand is as much a command as the words on my lips. I jog my head Jesse’s way. “You too, North.”
Together we head toward a darkened hallway off the mansion’s main room. Beyond the first door I open, there’s a mini movie theater. Fortunately, the large screen is dark and the dozen plush chairs are in shadow.
Maybe not so fortunately.
Jesse’s initial reaction already had Kara ducking her head. Her blazing irises have dimmed in the minute since, but in the darkness they can’t be mistaken for anything else. Not a single flame is missed by my enraptured friend.
“Damn,” Jesse murmurs, practically drifting his wheelchair across the tiles to stop in front of Kara. “That’s…just…”
“I know.” There’s a split second of her grimace before she drags down her hair to curtain off her face. “It’s creepy. Just give me a second to dial things down, and—”
“Creepy?” Jesse grunts hard. “Honest to shit, that’s cooler than Catatumbo lightning and the Northern Lights combined.”
Kara laughs from behind her hair, but the levity vanishes with her defeated slump. She tilts a troubled glance up at me. It says a thousand things at once, all of them adding to the rocks in my gut. I swallow hard, ordering air to my throat and words to my lips.
“It’s okay.” I try for reassuring, even as my thoughts are racing for ways to explain this to Jesse. Not just the fire in Kara’s eyes that I’d described to him before… All of it. The rest of the story that will give this oddity context. But already I know Jesse’s not ready for that mind bender—and may not ever be. And Kara certainly isn’t ready for me to share it.
“Crap,” she mumbles, ending with a shaky sigh.
“It’s no big deal, Kara,” Jesse mutters. “But, you know…it sort of is.”
I ignore him,