Page 68 of Cold Heir

My heart raced,throbbing inside my chest as a firm hand locked over my mouth. A silver gaze stared back at me from the reflection, but those eyes didn’t belong to the ones I loved and trusted. Panting against his palm, cool lips pressed to the rim of my ear and I flinched at the feel of them.

The words, “Don’t scream,” were breathed against it in a familiar accent, but not in the same tone as Levi. No, this voice was different, raspier, shifty.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and tears fell from them.

Way deep down, on the inside, where I tried to keep it locked away, I held on to a thought since escaping Blackthorn that night. It was an awareness that this day would come, a sense of knowing Aaric would, undoubtedly, come to finish what he’d started.

Staring into his cool gaze through my tear-blurred vision, I was only half surprised to see him. It was an ironically fitting end to this day, though. With so many twists and turns, so many ups and downs, I should have seen this—or something equally as devastating—approaching from a mile away.

As if to punctuate the gravity of the moment, a heavy roll of thunder shook the house, and my nerves.

Aaric blinked as I gazed at him through the reflection, wondering what his plan was. Wondering if the effects of the bond had gotten to him too during our brief separation. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a glint of something unexpected in his eyes, something that made me wonder if hehadn’tshown up tonight with ill intent.

My brow tensed, studying him, taking note of how the hand not fastened over my mouth was splayed loosely across my torso, but the touch was almost gentle.

So, if this visit wasn’t hostile, then … what was it?

I focused on the feel of his chest against my back, as it rose and fell when he took a single breath.

“I have to take you with me,” were the words that left his mouth. “And, while I’m certain you still don’t understand,” he added, “this is one-hundred-percent necessary.”

If I heard correctly, the statement was almost apologetic, as if he was simply doing whatneededto be done. Something about him seemed a little off, as if he wasn’t completely sure of his actions, but I wasn’t fooled by that. Nothing could convince me that what motivated every movethis man made wasn’t the wickedness he harbored in his heart.

I’d seen it for myself.

Quietly, he walked me from the bathroom and through my suite, pausing at the open window. Had it not been for a vision of how he would kill me in an instant, snap my neck before the others even made it to my room, I would have put up a fight. For now, cooperating with him seemed like the best thing.

Glancing toward the window, I imagined this was how he’d gotten in, climbing over the sill while I brushed my teeth, taking advantage of how my light mood had caused my guard to be weakened. Only, as I stared at my vanity’s mirror, I questioned whether he’d had to sneak in at all, or if something far more mysterious had been at play.

This doubt was spurred within me as solid flesh and muscle disappeared right before my eyes.

He was fading away, like a ghost in the candlelight that brightened the space where we stood. My hands still clutched his wrist, which meant that even where he couldn’t be seen, he could be felt—invisible to the naked eye, but still very present. My breaths came quick and uneven as I tried to make sense of what I was witnessing, but then I accepted that would never happen. Aaric was simply unlike any Ianite I’d ever come across in my entire life.

Those very breaths that made me dizzy as I drew them in, left me altogether, when seemingly at his will, myownphysical form began to fade with his. The reflection went from showing two, to one, and eventually only the setting of the bedroom.

As if we never existed.

In that moment, as I watched Aaric and I being swallowed by the nothingness, I questioned everything. We were there, but … we weren’t.

Despite the sudden onslaught of questions I asked myself, several from the past few weeks were now answered.

I recalled the night I first encountered him, how I once thought I was in his lair alone, only to discover he’d seemingly been seated at the table all along. And then again when Levi and I had holed up at Glenn’s and I was so positive Aaric had been there, but found nothing when I searched.

And again this evening, when what I believed to be a strong breeze rushed in on the breath of the storm.

I hadn’t imagined any of it. Now I was certain he’d been following me since leaving Blackthorn, watching my every move from the shadows as he gathered information. There was no telling what he’d seen or overheard, nor how many times he’d silently observed without me suspecting a thing. As if I hadn’t already felt violated by his past actions, realizing he’d been stalking me added more fuel to the fire.

He was calculative, and had waited for the perfect moment to strike. Tonight, that perfect moment had been handed to him on a silver platter.

Invisible but very much real, his grip tightened around me. “Close your eyes,” he beckoned, giving me mere seconds before backing us toward the window, and drawing me out with him. My body was lifted with such ease, I felt weightless.

As I gazed around my room, I accepted that it wasn’t likely I’d make it back. Mostly, because I couldn’t imagine he’d make the mistake of letting me get away twice.

Aaric took me higher into the night sky, above the palace walls, and the guards that surrounded it. I shuddered with a realization—I was completely at his mercy.

Fear made it impossible to speak, impossible to scream, but my thoughts were with the princes long after the estate was out of view.

No matter what happened from here, no matter what this monster had in store for me, I hoped they knew that what I felt for them had been real.

In hindsight, I wished I hadn’t missed so many opportunities to express those feelings. They’d earned the right to know what was in my heart. With my emotions running high, I swore to myself that if by some small miracle Ididreturn, I wouldn’t let another chance slip through my fingers.

This was the hope I clung to, as so much uncertainty surrounded my future.

Without knowing Aaric’s true intentions, it was impossible to deny that, for me … this could very well be the end.

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