Page 5 of Kiss the Dawn (Order of Helsing #4)

E dwin delighted in recounting how Crush and his friends had kicked Shay and his minions’ asses, and for a few minutes the apartment was filled with laughter. Kaster sat at the kitchen island nursing a cup of coffee while Hemlock lounged in the armchair and Lorenzo leaned up against the counter. The open-plan design that melded the two areas was a godsend with so many people in the room.

“You should have seen Shay’s face,” Edwin said. “He was terrified.”

“Is Crush all right, though?” Merry asked. “He wasn’t hurt, was he?”

“Nah, not a scratch.” Edwin sounded proud of that. “Oh, he said to tell you that tomorrow is still on if you’re up for it.”

Twin spots of color stained her cheeks. “Thanks.”

“We should get your wounds cleaned,” Holly said. “I doubt he used antiseptic when he did that to your arms.”

I caught the flash of panic in Padma’s eye and stood quickly. “I’ll help Padma in the washroom, you sort Edwin.”

Holly nodded quickly. “Good idea.”

Our team knew about Padma’s condition, but Lorenzo, Kaster, and Hemlock didn’t need to know.

I grabbed some supplies from the first aid kit and followed Padma to the washroom.

Once inside, she sat on the edge of the tub with a heavy sigh. “I saw him again, the thing from the teapot, but this time Edwin saw him too.”

“What happened?”

“He was in the room with us when Shay had us tied up. He spoke to me. I think he believes I know him. He kept asking me to tell him what he should do, and then Edwin attacked him and he vanished.”

Goosebumps pricked my skin. “I don’t like this, Padma. We need to figure out who he is or what he is, and fast.”

“I know. I’ll work on it while you’re away.”

“Along with all the other crap you have to work on. I hate that I have to leave.”

“It’s not your fault. This is your heritage…your family.” She peered up at me, her dark brows coming together in concern. “How are you feeling about it all?”

I’d asked myself that question over and over since I’d discovered the truth, and I didn’t have a definitive answer. “I’m angry, I guess. At the Order for lying to me. For taking me. But I’m also weirdly grateful, especially after what I’ve discovered about how they operate on the Isle, and I’m…intrigued. Maybe a little excited to meet my siblings?”

“You’re going to be okay. That Lorenzo guy looks like he can handle himself.” She smirked. “You didn’t tell us how hot he was. Is that silver streak in his hair natural?”

“Yeah, yeah it is.” I tucked away my smile. “But it’s not like that between us.”

“Why not?”

“Timing, placements, life. It just never happened.”

“But you like him.”

“Yeah…yeah I do.”

She shrugged her arm out of her top and tucked the fabric up over her shoulder. “Then who knows, maybe now the timing and placement will be right.”

“Maybe…” I peeled back the dressing Shay had applied to her arm, expecting to see a red, raw wound, but her skin was smooth, the wound looking more like the after-scab stage—pink and healing.

Padma sucked in a breath. “That’s not normal, is it?”

“No. I think the mark is coming back too.”

“It’s the mullo infection affecting me. It has to be.”

I cut some dressing. “I’m gonna apply this anyway, just to…to keep it clean.”

She nodded. “Yeah, good idea. ”

I taped the dressing on, trying not to stare at the dark veins that now covered her arm from elbow to shoulder. They’d begun to creep down her forearm too.

My gaze flicked to her face to find her watching me. “It’s spreading,” she confirmed. “My leg, too, now.” She swallowed hard. “Can you promise me something?”

“Anything.”

“If I go feral, then you’ll put me down.”

My heart sank. “Padma, I?—”

“Please. I don’t want you to keep me in a cage hoping that a cure will materialize. I don’t want to be that person, that thing . I want you to end me. Please…Orina…”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the only one I can trust to carry it through.”

This was the moment to say that it wouldn’t come to that, that we’d find a cure, but it wasn’t platitudes she needed, it was assurance. “I’ll do it. I swear. If you go feral, then I’ll take you down.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

I followed her back into the sitting room, the sinking feeling coagulating into something heavy and ominous in my belly.

How much longer would we succeed in staving off this infection? And if we failed to stop it, would I be able to keep my word?

It was strange getting into bed without Hemlock, but he’d left soon after Padma and Edwin returned; after all, someone needed to speak to Ezekiel about what had happened. Kaster had stayed for a while longer but left when everyone started to get ready for bed.

Lorenzo had taken the sofa, and the others tucked themselves into their sleeping bags on the living room floor. I could have joined them, but I needed a little space before my trip tomorrow, so I shut myself in the bedroom with a sleeping bag because the bed had no sheets.

It was a comfy mattress, though. Ezekiel had spared no expense.

Hemlock would have told him everything by now.

He’d be waiting for me in our dreamscape. At least…I hoped he was.

I relaxed and allowed myself to let go of consciousness.

The salty, ocean air filled my head. I was in our vista, ready to speak with Ezekiel, almost too afraid to turn around in case the room behind me was empty.

“Hello, Little Silver.”

How could I have doubted him?

He sat on the plush sofa, goblet in hand, dark hair loose about his beautiful face, and my heart throbbed. “Hemlock spoke to you?”

“He did.”

“And…”

“I raged a little, of course.”

“A little?”

He shrugged, mouth turning up wryly. “A little in comparison to some of my rages.”

I bit back a smile. “I’ll be safe. Lorenzo has ensured it.”

“Hemlock says that he’s high up in the mageri ranks. I’m assuming at the pinnacle if he can assure your safety.”

“That’s right.”

He set his goblet down and bridged the distance between us, and I tilted my chin to take in his meticulously carved beauty.

He lightly touched my chin. “You know I would come with you if I could, if?—”

“I didn’t want to kill you every time you were in the same room with me?”

His finger moved to trace the curve of my lips. “Yes, that.” His free hand slipped around my nape, and he drew me close, using his thumb at my jaw to nudge my head up even more so that I was looking him full in the face. “I won’t let them have you, you know. If the mageri fails to find a loophole, then they can burn for all I care. They can’t keep you.”

“Because you want to keep me? ”

“Because without you, my cold, cold heart refuses to beat.”

I gasped, and he pressed his thumb to my bottom lip, a storm of emotions swirling in his eyes.

God, he was beautiful, carved marble planes waiting for my kisses. Waiting to be explored with my lips.

Lips…his lips, so close now. Hovering over mine and tugging erratic heartbeats from my chest.

My eyelids fluttered closed. “Ezekiel…”

“Yes, Little Silver?”

“Are you going to kiss me now?”

“Undoubtedly.”

His lips were firm yet soft, questing yet gentle, testing even. In the past, he’d crushed me to him, bruised me with his ardor, each kiss a final assault, but this…This was new. It felt like…like the beginning, and my heart swelled. I cupped his face and kissed him back, tasting the phantom wine on his lips, on his tongue, teasing the sharp edge of his fangs and aching to feel them pressed to my flesh.

He groaned, a soft, desperate sound that evoked a pulse between my thighs. “Oh, sweet, sweet Silver.” His fingers slid into my hair, fisting and tugging, enough to hold me firm, enough to angle me so he could deepen the kiss and drink in my sighs and my moans until I was weak-kneed and clinging to his frame.

He broke the kiss, his golden eyes swimming with crimson rivers. “Three days,” he said. “If you’re not back in three days, then I will come for you, no matter the cost. You tell your mageri that. Three days.”

I fought against the tide of desire to think through his demand. “It’ll take a day to get there and one to get back so?—”

“Five, then.”

I opened my mouth to explain that it could be longer, that we might need more time with the contract, but he faded away, and a moment later, I tumbled into true dreaming.

I woke suddenly with the awareness that I wasn’t alone in my room. I continued to breathe, slowly and evenly, as if I was asleep, scanning what I could see of my bedroom. It was that time just before dawn, before the world turned gray and shadows fought to stay alive, huddled in corners like ink stains.

I caught movement in one of those spots, and a moment later, darkness surged toward me.