Page 19 of Shadows and Flames (Twin Blades #2)

Chapter Twelve

MELINE

“ R ebuild,” I repeated, not quite believing what I was hearing.

“Together.” My heart started pounding again, and my legs tightened around Elián’s waist.

He nodded, like he wasn’t shattering every expectation I had for this moment. In those hours in the darkness of my bed, or when my mind would wander just to torture me, I pictured my begging. His admonishment. His broad back as he turned away from me.

How long would Elián claim me after he knew how I’d truly failed?

“Meline. Look at me.”

I swallowed, focusing back into the present. The thick, brown muscles of Elián’s throat. The glossy black of his hair running against my fingers. The feel of his cock still inside of me.

My stare collided again with his, and the cold, sharp panic came back. “Fucking isn’t going to solve everything between us,” I whispered.

Elián pursed his lips, and when he pulled away, pulled out of me, I let him go. Despite what he’d said, I would never make him stay with me. Not after what I’d done.

Not after I’d taken a hammer to his already-cracking pieces.

But instead of turning tail and giving me what I deserved, Elián shoved my skirts higher, exposing me to the air. My legs hung off the edge of the counter as he tilted his head to gaze between them.

And he hummed a deep, rolling note. One that reflected the satisfaction flaring on his face. Elián took two long fingers and swiped them where he brutally claimed me, collecting the remnants of him that were undoubtedly running out.

“I know. But it is a start.” He raised his glistening fingertips to my lips, and fuck me, I opened my mouth. Let him feed our releases back to me. It tasted like home. My salvation. “And I couldn’t give you time to let your fear take over.”

That had me spitting out his fingers. “I’m not afraid.” With a huff, I closed my thighs and hopped down from the counter. Elián took a step back, allowing me to situate my skirts.

That was, until he clutched my chin and tilted my head to his liking. That face. Jaw and brow line strong. In his aristocratic disguise, he looked more like a king.

“I know that you are strong. That you are capable. But you let fear push me away last time. I have…” he paused, thoughts going far away, but I knew where.

To the day that I regretted more than any of my misdeeds.

Any sin I’d committed—fucked up but true.

Nothing compared to how much I hated myself for telling him to leave.

Elián refocused on me, gently petting the nape of my neck. Where the length of my curls now ended. “I have had many days to think about this. Years. As I know you have.”

It wasn’t a question, and the uncertainty wafting off of him shouldn’t have been his to bear. I’d put it there. Swallowing, I nodded.

Years, days, minutes. Seconds.

“So. We will go back out there, finish what we came here for. I have an apartment in the city center. You and I will go there and begin to rebuild.”

My fingers fiddled with the hem of his jacket. When had they crept up there? “You’ve gotten bossier,” I grumbled without heat.

“Na. I have become certain of what I want.”

I exhaled, the breath trembling. Could I lean into this? Truly trust it? While I ran over the last few moments, Elián watching and letting me, I recited his commands in my mind.

My eyes narrowed. “We’re not bowing out of the contract for you.”

And then my knees nearly gave out.

He huffed, like a laugh, and the smirk that shifted his lips caused the magical dip in his cheek. With his jewelry, the bright color of his jacket and the soft sheen of his hair, Elián looked more himself than I’d ever seen. Like he was no longer using the Shadow black as a shield.

Elián nuzzled into my temple, breathing me in while I blinked back tears. “There are many things I want from you, my queen. But you and your cousin handing over the contract to us is not among them.”

I cleared the thickness in my throat. “Um. Good.”

With a hard press of his lips to my cheek, Elián released me, but his promises—and mine—were still wrapped around us.

“I think this will be fun, my queen.”

And he spun on a heel and left.

When I caught up with Tana, drink in hand and laughing lightly at something spoken in the small circle gathered around the host of the event, her blonde brow was a silent inquiry to where I’d been.

Then, her nose twitched, chin tilting subtly in the air. Her eyes widened for a moment before her mask slipped back into place. A serene, airy smile spread her artificially blushed cheeks.

She hooked an arm around mine, demurely excusing us from the conversation and pulling me away. A few objections rose, urging Tana to hurry back, and if I could feel my feet beneath me, I might’ve marveled her quick work, charming these people.

My cousin stopped us in a corner of the ballroom, furthest from where most were milling about, socializing and peacocking.

“Tell me.”

I opened my mouth, but before I could report what happened, my attention snapped to the left. Catching on his form cutting through the crowd. Gathering information, just like we should have been.

“ Leenie ,” Tana hissed, and I whirled around.

“He…I don’t know where to begin.”

She rolled her eyes and stomped her foot in frustration. Then, leaning in, she spoke low, “How about the fact that I can smell… him all over you. See the fang marks healing.”

My lips rolled between my teeth, replaying the feeling of Elián inside of me. Kissing me. My power sparked and tingled on my fingertips, knowing we were going to follow his directives. Every last one. “He told me to meet him once we are done here. To spend the night with him.”

Tana paused, gaze roving my face, brows drawn in concern. She threw back the rest of her flute of sparkling wine. “Are you okay?”

A crackling laugh escaped my lips. No, I hadn’t been okay in three years. But now, maybe there was hope. “I don’t know.”

My cousin pulled me into her arms for a fast but grounding hug. It was just a breath, but I took it with her, inhaling against her chest, air whooshing out of our noses at the same time.

The tragedies of my actions, of my life, were at least good for two things. One of which brought me closer to Tana. Would anyone else save me the way she had? Watch me collapse, bleed, die , and still be here?

No one. Aside from the male whose seed was running down the inside of my thighs.

“Are you going to tell him?” Tana’s tentative question, tears already collecting on her lash-line, threatened another sob from me. Would Elián want this teary mess of a person that I now was?

And, because I’d never been a good person, I shoved the answer to Tana’s question away. Closed it in the steel vault in the back of my mind, even if the lock had a tendency to break at the slightest provocation.

“Are you going to be okay? If I go with him?”

She frowned, tracking my evasion but throwing away her objection with another roll of her eyes. “Oh, goddess, Leen. After all the offers I’ve had? I’m going to spend tonight very satisfied.” I paused, weighing the truth in her words and found it whole.

My shoulders relaxed, and she clucked, kissing my cheek. “I just worry about you. But,” she hooked her arm around mine again and pulled us to face the room, “enough of that.”

We resumed our act, a pair of wealthy sisters, traveling and enjoying the pleasures of Morova. Tana whispered all she’d learned about our mark who’d remained surrounded the entire night. By suitors, colleagues, other aristocrats.

The tailored fabrics in rich colors and patterns made for a mosaic of cultures. Though I wasn’t the most patient when it came to the posturing of the wealthy, the variety of languages spoken in the ballroom pulled on the same desires that sent me to live in Nethras nearly one-hundred years ago.

“And was he among those to offer himself to you?” Our mark was handsome, youthful and posessing a certain confidence that I could see as appealing.

Tana’s grin was enough to reveal her fangs, and I tracked the lustful glances she garnered. “Not yet.”

I grunted, and we mutually decided to enter the fold once again. The Shadows and other assassins might’ve operated by a different code, but where I was concerned, seduction was a perfectly acceptable means to the same end—fulfilling our contract.

As Tana rejoined the circle, bringing me with her, we both fought to keep our expressions pleasant. Our postures relaxed and eager.

Elián and his Shadow brother stood, flutes in hand, as they hung on every word of our mark as he gestured widely, spinning a tale of his last travel.

I flicked my attention, counting the guards at each entrance to the ballroom, as well as those that circled the room with trained posture. Covert but obvious.

Now, why would a mere merchant, wealthy or not, need twenty guards for a simple party?

Tana stiffened against me, and I returned to those around us. Elián wasn’t looking at me, but my senses pulled to him all the same. My hand twitched at my side, wanting to reach out for him. My throat prickled, remembering his fangs piercing my skin.

Would he bite me again? A steady look from Elián had me forcing back a whimper

“Shit,” Tana cursed under her breath with a smile on her face.

Lylithans were difficult to kill, but one of those guards could come over, sword in hand and ready to plunge it into my heart, and I wouldn’t see it coming.

Elián raised his brow, smug bastard, then pointedly faced our mark. Who was making starry eyes at his Shadow brother.

After the tale of his travels ended, some art collector took up the story, detailing the purchases he made from our host. And anger rose up my throat as Tomás attached himself to our mark, fanged smile on display.

His outfit was a bit more daring than Elián’s, jacket and embroidered tunic open to his sternum.

Without looking, he handed his flute to Elián so that he could trace a finger down the center of our mark’s chest.

“Fuck this,” Tana muttered and wove her way over.

Lylithans, and Vyrkos for that matter, were few here. Not quite legend, but our fangs and need for blood were interesting to the humans. Even the smattering of other creatures—an elf, a few witches, and a wolf shifter—snuck a range of glances our way. Most of them wary.

I halfheartedly engaged in a conversation with a woman marveling at my garment, commiserating with her frustration in finding a good tailor these days.

“Such a shame,” I sighed and watched Tana out of my periphery.

With the tightness bracketing Tomás’s smile, and the delight on our mark’s face, she was making headway.

Truthfully, with my Shadow just a few paces away, I was more than happy to leave the seduction to her. She was far more charming than me, even on my best day.

As the night passed, the guests got drunker, and both Tana and Tomás were now held in our merchant’s embrace. With one in each arm, the merchant excused himself, pulling my cousin and Elián’s brother with him.

Before they got lost in the crowd, Tana shot me a questioning look over her shoulder. I nodded as a warm body settled behind me.

She needn’t worry. Even with all the unspoken, the hidden, I knew I would be safe with him.