Succubus Revealed Page 0,108

book, the last book in his Cady and O'Neill series. My heart grew and grew the more I watched him, and I felt like I was getting away with something by being able to observe him without his knowledge. Our last few encounters hadn't exactly been friendly, and it was a balm to me to observe all the warmth and kindness that had made me fall in love with him.

It went by too quickly. I was so caught up in watching and listening to him that I was barely aware of the time flying by. It wasn't until I picked up on the subtle movements of the staff that it hit me that this portion of the event was about to wrap up. They would go into signing soon, and the crowd around me would become a massive line that would take hours to get through. Then what? I was suddenly at a loss. Why had I come here? To see Seth . . . and then? I wasn't sure what. I hadn't had much of a plan, short of the preparations needed to get here. Somehow, I had been thinking that would be enough, but of course it wouldn't be. If I wanted to do something, I had to do it now, before this turned into the machine of signing.

My hand went up, and inexplicably, Seth's eyes went instantly to me. I don't know how it happened. Like me, others had realized their chance to ask questions was running out, and eager hands were up everywhere, some waving eagerly in the hopes that they might draw his attention. How I - standing in the back and shorter than most of those around me - pulled it off was a mystery. Maybe it was like the time Erik had used Seth to rescue me from the Oneroi. Maybe after everything that had happened, we were still bound.

Seth's eyes widened when he realized it was me, but his hand was already pointing in my direction, giving me permission to speak. He faltered only a little. "Y-yes?"

I felt like the eyes of the world were on me. The eyes of the universe, even. So much rested on the next words out of my mouth.

"Are Cady and O'Neill ever going to get together?"

I don't know where it came from. When Seth and I had first met, this was the other common question he and I had discussed, and I had mocked it as well. Surprisingly, no one had asked it tonight, but judging from the intense way everyone turned to Seth, you could tell it was on a lot of people's minds.

Those amber brown eyes weighed me heavily, and then he answered my question with a question. "Do you think they should?"

"Well," I said, "they've been through an awful lot together. And if there's only one book left, it kind of seems like they're running out of time."

The ghost of a smile flickered over his lips. "I suppose you're right." He thought about it a heartbeat more. "I don't know if they will. I guess you'll just have to read the next installment."

That was met with disappointed groans, and the bookstore staff used that as an opening to segue into signing and hurry Seth off to a more comfortable table. He watched me a few moments more before he moved, the faint smile still on his face. He looked thoughtful.

Meanwhile, my heart was beating in double time. In a daze, I allowed myself to be herded with the others into line, not caring how far back I was. Some of the aches in my ribs and the rest of my body began to nag me, but I forced myself to stay strong and ignore them. It took an hour and a half for me to reach the front, but much like the questions, I barely noticed the passage of time. Only, now it wasn't because I was so enraptured by what I saw. This time, I was simply terrified. I wanted to see Seth . . . but was afraid to.

He finished signing for the person in front of me and gave me the same smile he'd had on for everyone else. I supposed he'd had time to prepare himself for me coming through the line and was able to effectively hide his shock at my presence.

"Hi," he said. I handed him my book without a word. "You've come a long ways."

"I'm a pretty big fan," I said.

He smiled and scrawled one of