some history I’d like to learn more about. Maybe soon. Maybe even later on tonight. Just not now.
The room grows too warm. I suspect it’s from the new sizzle in my blood and the inescapable crackle in my senses. Nothing about this party has felt right, but playing nicely with the underworld is priority one right now.
I impale her with one more intense look, asking a silent question. Are you all right with this? She answers me by popping up to press a sweet kiss into my beard.
“Save my spot, okay?” she whispers.
“Doesn’t belong to anyone but you.”
As Rerek deftly guides Kara into a waltzing swirl, Jaden approaches from my other side.
“Why didn’t he ask you?” I grouse.
“Because I’d have to say no, and he’d be a thousand kinds of bent about it. Besides, I can’t dance. I mean, at all. I’d end up scuffing his shoes and stomping on his feet.”
My penetrating stare is a silent call for Jaden to tell me more.
“I’m bound by the same vow as Kell and Kara.” He dilutes the statement with a shrug. “And it’s fine. Females are fascinating, and I’ll be content with whomever they throw at me. Rerek hasn’t said it, but I get the sense he’ll be ready and waiting as soon as my duties have been fulfilled. But I don’t anticipate that being anytime soon, so for now, we’re friends.”
“Veronica knows this too?”
“If my mother had her preference, I wouldn’t be mated at all—or at least until I’m much older.” Another shrug, corresponding with his casual side eye. “If you haven’t figured it out by now, males outnumber females down under. I mean, by a lot. That’s another reason why Mom’s stressing hard about Kara and Kell—and why your arrival in all this is a bigger deal than it seems at first.”
And perhaps why Hades was so fixated on invading all my thoughts about Kara. Just thinking about last night’s encounter with him is another introduction to tension, with more on the way.
“Well, they’d all better get used to it,” I finally utter. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Jaden flips his head back, tossing the hair out of his eyes. “I don’t think anyone’s questioning that part.”
His assurance doesn’t stop me from setting my vow on repeat in my mind while keeping watch over Rerek and Kara. Neither of them are saying much, but her discomfort isn’t cramping her style. Her frame is flawless, her footwork poetic. Even her profile captivates my imagination. I greedily take it all in, from the smooth plane of her forehead to the place where her neck blends with her collarbone, and everything in between. She makes me wish we’d really come in from the beach and just left for my place.
As soon as she whips her stare around, eyes snagging mine before Rerek turns her again, I realize how thoroughly my fantasies have taken over my brain. And likely hers as well.
I let her revel in my embarrassed smirk before Rerek twirls her away again, with her lush hair sweeping above and her skirt layers swirling below. Between them, her body is nothing but regal movement and innate grace. They’re dancing on their own along the far side of the room now.
“What the hell is he doing with her?” Basic jealousy would be easier to conquer than this bizarre amalgam in my heart and mind. Uncertainty and suspicion have become my constant wingmen lately.
Except the look on Jaden’s face mirrors my worry, which doubles my own.
Rerek and Kara waltz closer to the balcony, even farther from us.
An agitated rumble vibrates my chest. Heaven help me, I’ve gotten so paranoid—and maybe a little delusional. Because as I watch, Rerek’s angular features and lean frame start to phase in and out of view. It’s as if he’s been thrown into one of Gio Valari’s old movies, except his whole physical presence is flickering in slow motion.
Forget paranoia. I’ve careened right to baffled, wondering if my senses are playing a prank—until Kara’s gaze pops wide too.
Then I realize Rerek isn’t the only one in the room who’s phasing in and out of existence. The rest of the party guests start up with the freakish effects too.
“Holy shit,” I mutter. Every one of them has grown fuzzy edges and sketchy visibility. On. Off. On. Off. The calculated bursts continue across the room, making me question if this is all even real.
“You’re seeing this, right?” Jaden mutters.
“Yeah. I’m seeing this.”
And nothing about it is okay. Something bizarre is going