Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49441 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Fast with the lingering desire and the growing frustration.
I was too wrapped up in these new sensations, in the falsely strong emotions, that I lost focus on Roxanne for a moment.
It wasn’t until I saw movement in my peripheral that I turned back and saw she’d closed half of the space between us.
She was standing, legs hip-width apart, arms crossed over her chest, her eyes sparking green flames.
Angry.
That was the emotion that was being amplified for her right then.
“It was the right thing to do,” I insisted. “I wasn’t rejecting—“
“Shut up,” she snapped, voice biting.
“I know you’re angry—“ I tried again.
“Yeah,” she agreed, taking a step closer, the rage practically sparking in the air around her. “Yeah, I’m pretty angry at you right now. I think I have a right to be,” she added. “Were you ever going to tell me you were mortal again?” she asked.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Roxy
It wasn’t really his words that snapped me back to my right mind.
I mean, they were part of it.
No one wanted to have some unknown power invading their minds, making them do things they weren’t one hundred percent sure they would do if they weren’t under some sort of emotion amplification spell.
It was like being drugged, honestly. Which was really messed up with all emotions, but doubly so for things like desire.
All of that was on my mind, sure.
But it wasn’t what had my heart sinking to my feet, had me scrambling to stand, turning my incredulous gaze on the vampire who’d been my rock through this maze.
Only… he wasn’t a vampire, was he?
Sure, he’d told me that the labyrinth had weakened his powers.
But he hadn’t filled me in when he went from a power-stripped vampire to… a man.
A mortal man.
Who breathed.
Whose heart beat.
That was the realization that had broken the spell for me.
When I’d been kissing him, I’d felt his heartbeat. Against my chest. Against my lips.
Before he even pushed me off of him, I was ready to roll away.
Because… what the hell?
I mean, I wasn’t going to begrudge most people for keeping secrets. We were all entitled to them.
The difference here was that this labyrinth was dangerous. I was risking my safety, and likely my life, to keep moving through it with him.
I needed to know things like how he wasn’t, you know, immortal anymore. That was important.
Objectively, I knew that the upset was only partly because of my responsibility to keep him safe through this unpredictable maze.
It was more personal than that.
It was because of the connection I thought had been growing between us.
There was the attraction, sure. But I felt like there was more to it than that. At least, that was what I concluded when he’d held me so carefully. When he’d pushed me to my highest potential. When I’d been so hysterical about his poisoning and potential death.
He should have told me.
“Roxanne…” he started, voice soothing.
“No. Nope. You don’t get to try to placate me,” I said, stalking toward him.
I could feel the spell then, poking at me, trying to push my emotions to a higher level.
I didn’t need the spell, though. I was already almost at my max.
The hunger, exhaustion, the constant adrenaline dumps from dangerous tasks were all weighing on me, making me overly sensitive and short-tempered.
“I mean, did you plan on keeping it from me until the end? Didn’t you consider it was something I might need to know to try to keep you safe in the maze?” I asked, waving a hand out at the room as a whole.
“It didn’t happen all at once,” Nathaniel said. “It’s been a slow progression. I think the poisoning was the final push toward mortality,” he admitted.
“Were you planning on telling me?” I asked, chin jutting, daring him to lie to me.
“No,” he admitted, shrugging it off.
“No?” I asked, the wind out of my sails a bit at his admission. “Why not?”
“Because I didn’t think you would help me if you knew.”
“Wait… what? Why wouldn’t I help you if the maze was making you human?”
“It’s not the maze,” he admitted. “I imagine the magic here has only accelerated what was already at play for many years.”
“You’ve been… becoming human for years?” I asked.
“I was cursed about a hundred years back. Ever since then, I’ve slowly been losing some of my powers.”
“So that speed thing you do, that was… slow?” I asked, thinking how much faster he’d been from other vampires.
“Yes.”
Wow.
I mean, I didn’t want to be impressed when I was angry at him. But, yeah, that was impressive.
“Why were you cursed?” I asked. “Did you abuse and murder the most beloved daughter of some witchy clan, and the family decided to punish you with a soul for all eternity?” I asked.
“What TV show is that from?” Nathaniel asked, the beginning of a smirk toying with his lips.
“An old one,” I admitted.