Fire of Stars and Dragons (10 page)

Out of the lecture hall, the sun shines down on us as we escape the shadow of the brick buildings, students scattered across the wide grassy Killarney Commons opened a few decades ago, soaking up what’s left of the year’s warmth.

“You know, probably everyone in my class just failed that exam.”

“Was it difficult? I didn’t notice you seeming flustered by the questions.”

Laughing, I shake my head. “The exam was fine. I’m sure I did well on it since you don’t fluster me, at least not too much,” I tease, nudging him in the ribs as we walk across campus, kicking a few remaining autumn leaves on the ground. “But the rest of them spent more time looking at you than at the tablet in front of them.”

“I do apologize, Cait.” He grins unabashedly. “We often have a tendency to affect people quite so.”

“Oh, really? I can’t imagine… an incredibly sexy dragon turning heads everywhere he goes?” Theo stops walking, and I halt a few steps after. “What?”

“Is that a general observance,” he asks, the corner of his mouth turning up, “or an admission you find me in particular to be sexy, Cait?”

“Please, Theo,” I snark at him, shaking my head. “Don’t act like you need me to reassure you that you’re walking around here like sex on legs, as if my opinion in the sea of every coed on this campus staring at you matters.” Continuing on in the direction of Marcum waiting with the town car, I’m not amused by this, but he grabs my arm, and I’m squarely facing his chest, held in his arms.

“Do not act as though you are meaningless to me, Cait. That is far from the truth, and you know it.” His voice is strained, exasperated, but he’s not the only one.

“Clearly. Because nothing shows how much you care about a woman like calling in someone else to love her so you don’t have to bother.”

His jaw clenches, the muscles of his face going rigid. “And nothing shows fidelity like letting a vampire feed on you for breakfast.”

“Fuck you, Theo.”

Leaning in, brushing his lips on mine, still holding me tight against him, Theo’s eyes seem darker, his sharp laugh more dangerous. “Do not believe I have not thought a great many times since yesterday of holding you this way, of making love to you, Cait… not of using you as he would.”

I swallow hard and exhale slowly. “He’s the king. I was just trying to help him, to save him. I’m not so heartless as to just sit and watch him die, doing nothing.”

“Corrin is more than the king, Cait. He’s one of the three men vying for your hand in marriage.”

“Three?” I snap. “I thought you dropped out of that race.”

For a moment, our eyes remain locked, like some staring contest gone awry. “Hardly.” His eyes travel down my face to my lips, and I want him to prove it, to kiss me the way he did before anything complicated us. “I told you I abide by my promises. I will try, Cait, if you aren’t insistent on being eaten by a vampire first.”

Furious, I push him away, surprised he lets go. Maybe I shouldn’t be. “Trying so hard that you told me not to let Dante go, not to give up what he can offer?” Turning on my heel, I walk off.

But walking off does no good when I only get twenty feet, him right behind me, stopped in my tracks by the air humming and crackling with electricity, followed by a flash of lightning striking—on a bright sunny day. And Dante stands in front of me.

Oh, for the love of all things…

“Caitriona, how are you this morning? Did your exam go well?” He leans in to kiss me, his lips ghosting over mine before he steps back, a stricken expression on his face. “Why do you smell of vampire? Of
Corrin
?”

“I saw him this morning.” Nothing about this situation says I should have to explain every move I make to each of them. “Is that a problem?” My question is harsh, a drastic sharp edge threatening to cut anyone daring to push me.

His eyes narrow, mouth turning down, and he steps toward me again, pushing my hair off my shoulders, inspecting my neck, mumbling something to himself that sounds distinctly not English when he sees the bite marks. “It appears you did more than
see
him.” Dropping his hands, he nods, lips forming a tight line. “You choose to give yourself to Corrin. That is your decision. However, I could never enjoy the intimate pleasures of your company knowing you shared his bed, Caitriona. I am afraid I must dismiss…”

“No, Dante. No.” Something breaks inside me to think he would believe I could betray him for Corrin, and I grab his hand, not about to let go. “I didn’t. It wasn’t about sex. He’s sick. Starving. I just let him feed from me, nothing more. You can ask Theo.”

He meets my eyes, studying them with a blazing intensity. “You resisted him, and the allure, the seduction, of the bite. How? Why?” The concept seems to baffle the demigod.

Holding his hand, I take a step nearer. “I didn’t want him. I don’t want him.” Hoping he won’t use the chance to pull away, I move to slip my fingers through his, lacing them together the way he did last night, and he allows it, clasping his hand around mine, keeping me with him. Closing the distance between us, my forehead brushes along his face, and I lean into him, feeling his arm on my back. “I couldn’t do that to you.”

There’s a lighter tone in his voice when he speaks again. “And why is that?”

Recalling our conversation last night, I meet his gaze and don’t look away. “After everything that’s happened and what I know, unless there was some neon sign from the deities, like fire raining down or hell freezing over, I believe I know who I would choose if I had to choose this second, Dante.”

With a soft smile, he kisses me, tender and loving. “As far as I know, only the Dracopraesi could do anything comparable to raining down fire, and I shall speak with Hades myself, seeing to it he has no inclination of making the Underworld into a winter wonderland over the next few days.”

“I believe we’re gathering an audience.” Theo’s gruff tone breaks the moment. “It is time to move to the car and leave.”

***

“Do you intend to do it again?”

Washing down my bite of Caesar salad with a drink of lemon water, I set the glass back on the dining table. “Do what?”

“Let Corrin feed from you.” He’s finished his shrimp primavera already and relaxes in his chair with a glass of wine. Deities are so fortunate alcohol doesn’t affect them the way it does me. I would love a whole bottle of something right now. “You said you did it because he’s starving. You wanted to help him. Do you intend to continue doing so?”

I set down my fork, afraid this conversation is taking a turn for the worse. “Yes. I told him I would do it until I made my choice, then he’s on his own.”

“And he accepted that.”

“Actually, he asked me what happens if I choose him.” I take a deep breath and blow it out in frustration. “I tried to explain that’s not going to happen.”

Dante laughs. “I’m quite sure he did not believe that to be true or even remotely possible. Corrin has always enamored women. He would never believe you could be any different, or respond less willingly than others.”

“There’s a first for everything, isn’t there?” His expression turns serious again. “What?”

“There most certainly is, Caitriona.… Is that ring of particular sentimental value?” he asks, pointing to my right hand.

I reach down, covering the sterling silver, Celtic woven design of it. “It’s a family heirloom. Belonged to my great-great grandmother, the one I’m named after. Uncle Thomas gave it to me. She was the only descendant of his who knew who he was before the revolution, who accepted him as he was, as a vampire.”

“Then, yes, it holds sentimental value.” I nod. “Let me see it.” Without thinking twice, I pull my hand away, placing it in my lap under the table, out of his sight. “I will not damage it, Caitriona. I swear to you, I will not leave this room with it, and I will return it to you forthwith.”

Hesitant, I slip it off and hand it to him, telling myself if I’m willing to marry him, I have to be at least willing to let him touch my ring. “You know, I will kill you if you do anything bad to that, right?”

“Did we not already establish I am eternal?” he asks, eyes on my ring, not me.

“Oh, I’ll find a way. Trust me. I will. I swear
that
to you.”

He glances up for a moment, brows raised in amusement, as if he doesn’t think I’m serious. “Do not be frightened of what you see me do, love. I will not harm you.”

Love
. He called me ‘love.’ I want to ask what he means, but I hear the faint
snick
of fangs dropping and see Dante with razor-sharp, lethal fangs peeking out behind his upper lip. A small gasp escapes me at the unexpected sight. He pricks his thumb on one fang, then retracts them, rubbing his blood on my ring.

“It is my own detestable
gift
that created the vampires. I am the one who started it all, the first of their species, and have lived to regret my actions for millennia.” Holding my ring balled in his fist, a blue light glows, a low humming accompanying it, and when he opens his hand, my ring is shinier than it ever has been. I reach for it, but he pulls it away. “Wait. You will burn yourself if you do not let it cool. It is also my gift, my blood, which heals the damage they do, though what I am doing for you will protect you in more ways than one.”

“And what exactly are you doing?” I ask, watching as my ring dulls.

“Sealing my blood into something close to your heart,” Dante replies, blowing a gentle breath over my ring, then standing to approach me, taking my hand and slipping the ring back on, looking as it did when I gave it to him, and a warm tingling runs up my arm and through my body. “Blood of the original vampire in existence bound into the silver by power only I hold, given the breath of eternal life.… This is the most powerful protective talisman you may ever own, unless, of course, you were given one by my mother.”

He sweeps my hair off the right side of my neck, leaning down closer as he does, and I flinch, the image of him with fangs fresh in my mind. “Please, don’t.”

“Caitriona.” He whispers my name, not moving. “I despise that part of me more than you can fathom to be possible. There is no reason for any of it. I have no bloodlust, no need, and most certainly, no desire to bite you, or to harm you in any way.” Smoothing my hair down with one hand, he runs a finger over my ring. “This is meant to keep you safe, to heal a vampire’s bite since you are so insistent on aiding Corrin for now. I only wanted to be sure it worked properly.” Gently, he kisses the ring. “And with this, you can call for me, even if I’m in the High Realm. I will feel the pull to your side when you need or want me. No matter where I am, I am always here for you, my love.”

Hearing it again makes me smile, the sweet sound reminiscent of the sweet taste of his kiss. “Why did you call me that? You did a few minutes ago, too.”

Kneeling beside my chair, he holds my hand in his, eyes on the ring rather than on me. “I did say I believed I would find no difficulty falling in love with you, Caitriona.… And I have spent every moment since I left your side last night unable to escape thoughts of you. The beauty of your eyes and smile, the silken waves of your hair in my fingers and your soft skin under my touch, the sound of your laugh, your voice, your scent, your kiss. I find myself entirely too concerned with what decision you make—whether or not I shall be your chosen—and it has impaired my ability to concentrate on all else.”

“But if I mean that much to you, how could you say you’d walk away so easily when you thought I’d been with Corrin?” I ask, both angry and confused.

“Sacra Trinitate Numina: scientia, moribus, pietate,” he says, tone flat and unwavering. “Sacred Trinity of the Deities: knowledge, morality, and compassion… the principles my mother sanctifies as most godly in all beings. I do best with knowledge. However, believing you when told me how deep your distaste for Corrin was last night, and then you shared his bed this very morning? It was too far from any sense of morality I could abide by, Caitriona. As great as it would have pained me, and believe me, it would have far more than you may imagine, I could not take to wife a woman bearing such disgraces.”

“I would be an embarrassment.” My tone is cold.

A long silence stretches between us then he looks up at me, tears in his eyes. “You? How do you believe I felt, so assured of what you said to me, of the feelings you showed in your touch, in your kiss? Do you not think I felt entirely foolish to see the marks on your neck as proof you allowed a vampire to bed you, believing you may very well have turned right from my arms into his?”

Unsure what to say, I lean down, kissing away a tear rolling down his cheek, and he closes his eyes, face turned up. “I am no mere man, Caitriona. I am the son of the Goddess and belong to the High Realm.” Voice breathy as he speaks, he reopens his vivid blue eyes, gazing up at me. “I could not bear to admit I fell in love with a mortal woman who proved me a fool.”

Chapter 8

*Theo*

Oliver dismisses Liam from his duty at the door to the king’s apartment as he exits, meeting me in the hall. “Miss Hayden is well? I hope she suffered no ill effects from this morning. Corrin did not feed in excess.”

“See to the care of your own ward, brother, and I will see to the care of mine,” I state, feeling quite irritated, pacing up and down the space with far too much energy and regret.

“Oh, I am. However, you will not like what has happened since this morning.” Turning to him, I don’t want to go through the list of possible things I may not like to hear at this moment in time. There are far too many, and they all revolve around Cait. Undoubtedly, so does what he’s about to say. “In a rather shocking change of heart, Corrin intends to take Miss Hayden to dinner tonight, a so-called ‘date’ of sorts, to show her his interest in further pursuing his initial proposition is genuine.”

I respond with a derogatory snort and a glare. Oliver frowns. Crossing my arms over my chest, I maintain my glare. “Exactly what does he expect to accomplish this late in the game, Oliver? Cait quite despises the little bastard, and seems to have settled on Dante.”