breath,” my father offered. “I thought she would have to leave last night before the ceremony, but she got used to it. By the end of the party she didn’t notice it. I thought maybe someone had been working a spell that went wrong, but now I have to wonder.”
I nodded and stood up because I had to get to work. “Okay, we’ll talk to her about it, but I’ve got a short window of time and I need to get into Myrddin’s office. I don’t know where the Mantle of Arthur is.”
Lee frowned as he stared up at me. “If I tell you something bad but it turns out to be good for you, do I still get grounded?”
That could only mean one thing. “How long have you had it?”
He shrugged. “Only a little while. I wanted to test it out and Sean told me I couldn’t steal it. He was wrong. I stole it pretty easy. It’s just like the book. All three of us fit under there.”
I should never have let him read Harry Potter. Not when he actually had access to some crazy shit. Still. It did help me out. I didn’t have to dig through the armory to find it and risk someone noticing. Also, he was always an asset. “I won’t tell on you if you don’t mention this incident to your dad. Please understand I don’t want to keep things from your father.”
He stood up beside me and reached for my hand. “There’s something wrong with Dad. And Papa. They like the wizard too much. They can’t see him for what he is. I think the wizard is doing something to them and I don’t like it. I think he’s doing bad things and we should stop him.”
I didn’t have to get on my knees anymore to wrap my arms around him. He was getting so tall, like his papa. He would be taller than me soon. But he was still my baby boy. I hugged him and promised I would do everything I could to bring his papa home.
Chapter Eight
Summer
I felt something change inside me with the first brush of the vampire’s lips against mine. His mouth was velvety soft and contrasted to the hardness of his body. His eyes were dark, and he was staring directly into mine. Such darkness, but they weren’t cold. There was warmth in his eyes as he lowered his head.
How long had it been since I’d had lips on mine? Forever, it seemed. I’d gotten so caught up in finding Dean a path to where he needed to go, to helping Erna find her cure, to simply surviving that I’d forgotten what it meant to give over to my instincts and allow myself to feel. I shouldn’t have in this case since I didn’t actually know the man whose body pressed mine into the forest floor, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. It felt right to soften beneath him.
Of course that was probably exactly what he wanted me to feel. I didn’t care in that moment. I only knew he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
I should have told you that I am yours, bella.
Mine. Nothing was mine. It had been exactly the right thing to say to me. I belonged to others. It was kind of the central tenant of my being. I’d been born of high faery magic, an old creation magic used to bind tribes and clans together. Had things gone the way they should have gone, the tribe I was gifted to would have focused their will on the magics that made me and I would be a purring cat or a glorious tree. I was supposed to be a pretty decoration, an affectionate pet.
But it had been Daniel Donovan’s will that created me. He’d made a child from his deepest wants and wishes. If I’d been a cat or a tree, I wouldn’t have felt this longing, this deep need inside of me to fit somewhere.
Marcus’s lips were gentle on mine, tender. “You fit, Summer. You fit with me. There’s nothing wrong with you. Sei un miracolo.”
I felt him sigh against me as though he’d come so far and finally found his place.
He was good.
I knew then and there I might be feeding this guy because he knew exactly how to make me relax. He made my brain foggy with wanting, and it felt so good to not think for a moment.