Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69923 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Calm yourself, sweet one.” Calix reclined on the armchair. “Sit on my lap.”
I did so happily. Snuggling against his chest, I asked myself if a moment could ever be more perfect than this.
“Look at me.”
Our gaze locked—his capturing mine though I ached to trace every part of him. The cute wrinkle between his thick brow. The cloudy, unfocused haze in his citrine eyes. The curve of his lips as they closed the distance.
Calix kissed me. Gentle, honeyed, and teasing, he nipped for entrance and it all rushed in.
Crashing, coursing, exploding—heat erupted in my chest, my soul, and the very core of my being. He was melting me. His tongue tangled with mine to turn up the furnace and melt me from the inside out, so I’d always be his and his alone. That was the only explanation for the wetness pooling between my legs.
Who knew after eight hellish years and the worst night of my life, something amazing was waiting for me?
It was Calix.
It was love.
“Hey, Cal? Are you up here?”
Who was that? I thought, pulling my love closer still.
“Cal, man. Speak up. I know you’re here.”
I frowned into our kiss. Why wouldn’t they go away?! Didn’t they know Calix had everything he needed? Me.
“Cal— What the fuck?” Rough hands snaked around my waist, tearing me away from Calix.
My scream echoed through the rafters.
“What the hell are you doing, Cal!”
I thrashed in his grip, fighting and straining to get to Calix. My love straightened in the chair, his perfect lazy grin as lopsided as his wonderful hair.
“What does it look like I’m doing? Don’t judge me, Xander. We should’ve been at the funeral. Ajax needed us. Galen needed us! Even if it took burning these fucking ward spells down, we should’ve been there.” He shrugged. “If I need a distraction to get my mind off the unforgivable betrayal to our brother, then you can just fuck off and slam the imaginary door on the way.”
“I know what today is,” snapped my captor. “Galen’s dead and you’ve got your tongue down the throat of the girl who did it. Dammit, Cal. If you had taken a break from putting that shit up your nose for one fucking minute, you would’ve connected the face to the name.” He shook me. “Aella Galanis. This is her.”
My love’s smile vanished. “Can’t be,” he croaked. His beautiful, foggy eyes sharpened. “This skinny little treat? She’s the one you’ve been ranting about? She got Galen killed?”
“Yes.”
“Calix.” I clawed the air reaching for him. “Calix, my love.”
“Get out of here.”
Calix looked into my eyes—reading my pleading, my agony, my absolute love for him.
Then he walked away.
“No! Calix, please. I—” The fog vanished. Rocking on my heels, my head smashed into his chest as those worries, concerns, and the real me exploded through the lake’s surface. “Oh my gods,” I breathed. Horror deadened my bones. “What was that? Who was that? What did he do to me?”
“Nothing you can’t forget, since believe me, he is paying for it as we speak.” Alexander spun me around. His grip was iron around my arms. “What were you doing up here anyway? Everyone knows what goes on in the archives. Were you looking for milk or nectar, Galanis?”
Incredible that even though he kept his word to call me only by my name, he still made it sound like an insult. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Let me go.”
“Sex or drugs,” he hissed. “What pain do you need numbed? On the day they put a good man in the ground, how have you made yourself the victim?”
I gaped at him. “Victim? I wasn’t looking for either of those things. This is a library. I came up here for a book.”
“Really?” Anger scorched through him, burning me where our skin connected. Or at least that’s what it felt like so close to his rage—his heat. “Tell me something, Aella.” He spat my name out like a curse. “Did you mean a word you said today? Are you truly sorry your ignorance and stupidity got Galen killed?”
I swallowed past the rock in my throat. “Of course I am. What do you think of me, Alexander? How could I not be sorry?”
“You weren’t sorry about the border watchers who risked their lives following you into a pack of typhons,” he dropped, tone flat. “You weren’t sorry about the man you tore to pieces.”
“That was different!” I ripped out of his hold, backing to where the torchlight didn’t reach. Anything to make it harder for him to see my filling eyes. “I had to get away, but you and the border watchers didn’t have to follow. You made your choices like I made mine. And Nico,” I cried. “How dare you throw him in my face? You know what he tried to do to me. I know you know.”