Page 7 of It’s A Little Bit Bunny (Fangs on Ice #4)

Six

Jules

M y insides were in turmoil when I left Nikolai to his own devices. I’d shown him the bathroom and where to put his clothes so I could wash and dry them.

He is naked.

That thought looped in my head as I waited in my room for him to finish showering, bundle up in one of the dressing gowns I owned, and turn in for the night.

I also felt a little bit bad that I had used my powers to keep the storm around longer than usual. It wasn’t something I did often, but the idea of parting ways with the beautiful human so soon had tortured me.

A certain sadness surrounded him like a cloud. It spoke to me and drew me in. If I was less civilised, I might keep him. Without my help he would never find the way back. But just because I had been born to a monster didn’t make me one.

The memories of the humans my mother had imprisoned in her castle still haunted me three centuries after I had left her court. How they had all forgotten about their lives, their families, and the people they loved because she craved them.

This part of my power had always scared me. Maybe that was why I had instilled fear in all the humans I met before. If they didn’t get close to me, I wouldn’t be tempted to own them.

And yet, I had made the young human stay. Was I better, ultimately, than my mother?

Yes! You did not bewitch him. You are not her.

With a sigh, I poured myself a glass of water from the jug on my desk, thankful for my inner voice. No, I wasn’t like her. In the morning, I would take him back to the passage that came out near the granite labyrinth.

Nikolai turned off the shower. It was an odd feeling to have another person in the house when it was normally just Barnabas and me.

But I couldn’t pretend to hate having him here. Not that I was scared when it was only the two of us, yet Nikolai’s presence still comforted me.

Dreams plagued me in the night. Dreams of her , fair and beautiful with blonde hair, cold blue eyes, and porcelain skin. She had never relayed to me who my father had been. Perhaps, he had been another unfortunate soul who had perished inside her castle walls.

In my dream, I gazed into the mirror and saw her looking back at me. “I knew it, Julius. You are my son after all. What a pretty plaything you chose.” Nikolai appeared behind her, unreachable to me inside the mirror.

“Don’t touch him!” I yelled, reaching out, fully expecting to meet no resistance. But my fists only met with the cool, smooth glass surface.

My mother gave me a small smirk as she caressed his stubbly cheek, then trailed her fingers over his lips.

“Nikolai! Let him go!” I hammered on the mirror until long cracks appeared in the glass, distorting both of them horribly. She stared at me as she kissed him.

I woke, gasping and shaking, and sat bolt upright in bed. Morning wasn’t far away.

I got up and stumbled across the room to my desk and spilled some water on my chest when my fingers fumbled with the glass.

It wasn’t real. It was a dream. He is safe in the guest room.

My mother had many faults; sentimentality wasn’t one of them. In three hundred years she had never tried to make contact. In her eyes, I was weak for not following in her footsteps—a weakling and a fool. But at least she left me to myself.

She lived in her moor, and I had my forest, where Nikolai was protected by my magic.

Not wanting to risk another nightmare, I took fresh clothes to the bathroom, washed, and dressed. In the kitchen, I brewed fresh coffee and made pancake batter.

It was seven by the time I was done with breakfast and heard footsteps on the stairs.

My heart squeezed in my chest.

By my trees, I love this. But he will be gone in a few hours. How cruel can this world be?