Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (85 page)

and whispering.

“This one is not good news,” Salvatore said from behind me. I

spun to see what he was talking about and found myself staring at the same thing that had everyone’s unwavering attention.

“You think?” Zoe snipped at Salvatore, throwing a hand to

the chalice that balanced on a long wooden stem, just as it did in the painting.

“Stop being a bitch,” Magda spoke up, contributing her first

words for the day.

“What? You got a patent on it or something?” Zoe returned, her

anger causing sand to swirl at her feet.

I was starting to feel woozy again.

Magda looked down at Zoe’s miniature sandstorm. “You

wouldn’t get it off the ground,” she warned.

“Lady, I could build a sand castle around you before you even

knew what was happening,” Zoe said, taking a step forward,

daring Magda.

Maybe
I
did
get
up
too
quickly.

Magda was about to say something else when Griffin stepped

between them. “Stop it!” he yelled, staring at Magda. She looked away, her hand going to the sapphire around her neck as if it would somehow protect her.

My head was spinning. Zoe looked like she was about to say

something else, but she stopped when I lost my balance and fell to one knee.

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“We need to get Violet back to the hotel and I think we all need to get out of this place. Now,” Griffin ordered.

He came to my side as Lincoln helped me stand.

“I’m okay,” I tried, but they just ignored me.

So
much
for
being
strong.

“Let me guess, Violet needs you both to rescue her now,”

Magda said under her breath as she charged out of the room and

into the tunnels.

“What’s her problem?” I asked weakly, trying to understand

once and for all what her issue was.

“She…she’s just tired,” Griffin said. But I wasn’t buying that

anymore. By the look on Griffin’s face, neither was he.

As we all walked out, I noticed Salvatore stayed very close to

Zoe, who was still fuming, almost protectively.

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chapter
twenty- nine

“Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron

obstinacy of a creature’s will.”

aLeXaNdeR MaCLaReN

I woke up disoriented to fi nd myself in my bed at the hotel, then startled when I registered someone was beside me.

“It’s just me,” Lincoln said soothingly, closing the book he’d

been reading.

“Hey,” I said, sounding croaky. I’d been dreaming a familiar

dream. Th e same one I’d had often now. I concentrated and tried to hold on to it, draw it back to me. But once again, the moment I could almost touch it, it seemed to dissolve completely. Th e only thing left in its wake was the same feeling of isolation and sadness and the smell of lilies. White.

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breathed in through his nose and out again slowly, I was suddenly very aware we were in, or at least on, the same bed together.

“How are you feeling?”

Paranoid.

I returned his smile, though mine wasn’t so easy, and tried to

push aside the feeling that I was missing something big. “Better, I think. What happened? Last I remember, we were getting in

the cars.”

“You passed out when you were climbing in, almost took Azeem

out with you,” he said.

I couldn’t stop staring at him. His hair was damp and he’d

changed into pants and a light blue shirt, sleeves rolled up so I could see the blond hairs on his bronzed arms. He looked divine.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Oh” was the best I could muster while trying to stop my

wandering eyes.

“No one else could have done what you did back there. How

did you know it was imagination?”

I heard the words, but the way he spoke— quietly, intimately—

made it feel like he was saying a lot more. Goose bumps ran down my arms, prompting a domino effect as arm hairs stood at attention.

He reached over and opened a bottle of water for me.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip. “I saw that exile, the one in the robes. He was waiting for us when we went into the caves.”

He nodded, putting two and two together. “So that’s where you

disappeared to.”

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“Yeah. There’s something weird about him. He knows stuff and

I know he’s old, even for an exile, but there’s something else. He isn’t like the others. He’s not inclined to fight and I’m not afraid of him in the same way.”

Lincoln looked concerned. “Don’t be fooled; we have no idea

what his powers are,” he warned. The comment was loaded. Clearly, I’d been fooled before.

“That room, those caves…it was all created by angels so that

normal humans would never discover it. That place was only meant for us to find,” I said, feeling shivers of a different kind.

“Us
and
exiles,” Lincoln corrected. “They can see past the imagination of angels too.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking a deep breath. I didn’t know how long I’d slept, but it wasn’t enough. “What time is it?”

“Almost five.”

I sat up urgently. My stomach turned; I still wasn’t at my best.

“We have to go. Phoenix is going to be there in a couple of hours.

I can’t believe you let me sleep this long!”

“Relax. We have time and you needed to rest. Everyone is

meeting downstairs in an hour.”

“Oh,” I said, unable to resist falling back on the bed.

“You know, this isn’t how I imagined the first time you would

wake up beside me,” Lincoln said, smiling
that
smile.

I was about to launch into one of my mental mind checks,

remind myself of all of the dangers. Lincoln, for some reason, had decided not to hold back anymore. He’d seemed so sure since what 363

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happened with Nahilius. I’d had my doubts. But then I remem-

bered what Nox had said. He’d confirmed it. We were soul mates.

This
was
what
I
wanted.

There was nothing to hold us back.

I thought of Nyla and Rudyard and smiled as I fantasized about

how that could be Lincoln and me. Lifetimes of being together—

free to love each other completely.

But then, another line of thought had my smile fading fast, as

Lincoln watched on, amused. I was sure I had panda eyes, bad

breath, and terrible hair.

He
probably
wants
to
run
screaming.

I sat up. “Sorry,” I said, quickly throwing the sheet off and

standing up.

Kill
me!

I wasn’t wearing my cargos, just undies. “Ah…” I started, feeling a rising flush, totally at a loss as to what to do. I didn’t want to shriek, but…O. M. G. I was standing there in front of my soul

mate in my green Incredible Hulk undies!

Lincoln was holding back a smile and his eyes stayed on my

very bare legs. I guess it was better than focusing on my burning red face.

“I swear, I didn’t do that,” he said, hands up in surrender. “Zoe brought you in and got you settled.”

“Well, thanks for the warning,” I said, grabbing a towel from the cupboard shelf and wrapping it around my waist.

“You got up kind of quick. Anyway, I’m part angel, not saint,”

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he said, his voice thicker than usual and his smile twisting. He was getting way too comfy keeping those green eyes fixed on me, which would have been okay if I wasn’t a fumbling mess.

I darted toward the bathroom.

“Where are you going?”

“Shower!” I called back. Then, realizing he’d probably take that as his cue to leave, I made a decision. “Wait there. I’ll be back out in a minute.” I closed the door before he could answer. It was time to level the playing field if I wanted to maintain any control.

I gave myself a smile in the mirror.

Let’s see who has the upper hand now!

Then my smile turned to a grimace. I looked horrific. My hair

was all but in dreadlocks, my eyes had tired dark circles under them, and there were random smudges of dirt on my neck and

shoulders. I desperately wished I had Steph’s little makeup bag of everything handy.

I turned on the water and stripped off my tank top and under-

wear. I had a fast, cold shower, just wetting my hair enough to control the craziness before jumping out again. I used what I
did
have, which was pretty much just eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss.

I gave my hair a quick towel dry and then flicked it back a few times. On my way to the door, I strategically wrapped the short white towel around me, letting it drape at the back. It covered the important parts.

Lincoln was standing by the window. He was looking out, but

he knew I was back in the room. I could tell by the way he stilled.

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“That’s much better,” I said, combing my hair with my fingers.

“That’s…good,” Lincoln said, not turning around.

“Linc, what’s wrong?” I asked, innocently.

“Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “I just thought…I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

The truth. I was
totally
uncomfortable. I mean, it wasn’t about being close to him. That was easy, especially now that I knew we could— but this stuff…Well, I hadn’t done anything like this before.

“Me? I’m not uncomfortable at all. Why? Are you?”

Hold
it
together, hold it together.

I was sure he must have heard the tremble in my voice.

He didn’t respond. But he did turn around, and when he did, it

was worth it.

Seriously, big- time worth it.

He tried not to drift, he tried to hold my eyes, but he couldn’t, and when they traveled down the length of my body, my mission

had been well and truly accomplished. Just in case, I put the cherry on the cake.

“Oh, there it is,” I said, spinning around to the bedside table to get my brush. My towel was draped at the back so it dropped all the way to the top of my butt. It didn’t show any more than a backless dress would, but it’s different when the only thing between you and stark nakedness is a loose sheet of cloth.

I turned back just in time to catch the corners of Lincoln’s

mouth go up.

“You do realize I’m coming over there, don’t you?”

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“No. Why?” I replied, but I was already laughing.

He took a few steps and by that stage, he couldn’t move fast

enough. Just as he reached me, there was a knock at the door. Zoe called out.

“Everyone’s getting ready to go. You guys okay?”

“Yep,” we called out in unison.

“Right,” Zoe said, sounding like someone who knew exactly

what we were doing.

“At least it wasn’t Ermina,” I said. But Lincoln
really
wasn’t interested. His lips found mine and though we had to go, nothing was going to stop us from sharing this moment. He pulled me close

and the towel dropped from my back as my hands wrapped around

him. His touch glided gently over the contours of my shoulders

and down the sides of my body, and suddenly there were a million places I wanted them to be and I knew his hands wanted to be

there too.

Instead, they reached down and picked up the dangling towel,

gently rewrapping it over my back then running his hands down,

smoothing it over. Always the gentleman.

“You know that what you just did is a form of very serious

torture,” he said, his voice more enrapturing than ever before. I watched him, hypnotized as he reached out and ran a hand through my wet hair.

“You deserved it.”

He half laughed. “I don’t know that I will ever do anything in

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you, Violet, I will try every day for the rest of my life.” He took a step back and took in the sight of me in a way that made my insides flip. “When we get home, I plan on showing you just how amazing we really can be together.”