The 52nd (The 52nd Saga Book 1) (38 page)

He promised me. He promised he will
return.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Eternal Engagement

Midnight approached, and I still couldn’t sleep, no matter how exhausted I was. My body pounded for Lucas. As I rested on my back, imagining Lucas resting on the other side of the house, a dark figure appeared between the French doors. The sheer drapes blew lightly around Lucas’s black silhouette, shirtless and barefoot. A smile grew on my face as the hunger flashed in his eye. I sat up as he stepped
inside.

He didn’t speak. Instead, the prince came silently, passing the foot of the bed with fiery purpose. I reached for the silk sheet and weakly pulled it over my chest as he turned the corner of the bed. His determination was a shield, and now I saw weakness when he stopped at my
side.

“Are you nervous?” he asked
softly.

I nodded robotically.

He studied me for a moment, my face, my body, before setting a knee on the bed. I slid to the center, trembling. He crawled over to me and knelt at my side. Then he took my hand and placed it on his bare chest. It was sticky in the humidity, but I felt his heart pumping underneath, beating as fast as
mine.

He cupped a hand behind my neck and lowered me to my back, leaning over
me.

“I’ve no more reasons. Somewhere over the past few months, I’ve fallen for every piece of you . . . your body, your soul, your mind,” he
said.

I panicked. I’d always considered myself good looking, but I never dreamed someone like Lucas would want me. He belonged with someone just as exotic as himself, just as timeless, just as royal. That wasn’t me. I looked away, ashamed.

“I don’t deserve you,” I rushed
out.

He pushed my chin up with a finger, forcing my eyes to meet his. “It is I who doesn’t deserve you. But I want you. I choose you, Zara, consequences and
all.”

“Lucas, I’m scared,” I said quickly. I knew that once we did this, my heart would belong to him forever. “Aren’t
you?”

He rolled onto his side and swept a loose hair past my ear. His thumb brushed my lips and made me tremble
inside.

“
This
is my someday,” he whispered.

When I didn’t budge, frozen by his words, he moved. “Hold still,
muñeca
,” he warned softly, lowering his
head.

I stared, expressionless, afraid of what was coming, but then a fiery passion overwhelmed my
fear.

He rolled again and pressed his bare skin to mine. He trailed slow, lingering kisses down my neck and across my jaw to the rim of my lips. Then he gently cupped my cheeks with both hands and paused, staring deeply into my eyes. Second-guessing, perhaps? But suddenly, his lips met mine unerringly in the darkness.

A golden burst rose behind my closed eyelids like fireworks. The unfamiliar rush of emotion made every atom in my body explode. I knew he felt it too, because he backed away with a startled expression. But then he grinned with pleasure and leaned in again. I was ready this time as he pulled me to his starving
lips.

I clenched my fingers in his hair and brought him closer. I wanted to feel the entirety of him. He slipped one hand under the front of my nightgown and touched my inner thigh. My body throbbed as he kissed me harder. I moaned—he was squeezing me too hard, but I didn’t want him to stop. The foreignness of his touch set fire to my body, a hotness I’d never experienced, and I wanted more. But he let go and rose to his knees. His hands swept mine up quickly, locking them over my head as he nibbled my
ear.

My toes clung to the sheets as he cinched my waist and pulled me toward him, kissing all over my body. I grunted with pleasure as time slipped away. When he released my wrists to draw me closer, I cupped my hands carefully around his neck to pull him back up against me, wanting more of his poison. His lips found mine again, that golden energy derailing my intent again. Lucas parted my lips this time, intertwining his tongue with mine, and I panted, trying to take as much of him as I
could.

I gasped when he unlocked our lips and eased us back down to the bed. He pushed my nightgown up above my navel and began licking slowly around it. Then he hooked a finger in my panties and drew them down slightly, licking. A ripple of shivers racked
me.

He looked up with fiery eyes, his hot breath inches from my body. It made me pulse even harder for
him.

“I’m trying so hard to be good,” he whispered, before licking above the lacy hem
again.

The throbbing grew out of control as he scooted back. He slouched over and spread my knees slightly, but then he stopped.

“What?” I panted, nearly exploding with expectation.

He studied my blazing face, then closed my legs, pulled the nightgown down, and lay down on his side next to
me.

“I love you,” he whispered unexpectedly.

He draped a hand over my body and brushed fingers over my
arm.

Coming to my senses, I smiled bashfully and whispered back what I’d always known. “I love you
too.”

I knew it wasn’t normal. I would marry him in a heartbeat—elope, even. But I was still on fire, pulsing, and I wondered why he had stopped.

“There’s no need to rush this. I want you, but later. When we are both ready for it,” he
said.

“Are you afraid that you’ll hurt
me?”

He laughed loudly. “Not exactly.”

“Well then, what is it?” I hoped I sounded less nervous to him than I did to
myself.

His lips brushed my ear as he whispered, “My parents can hear everything we are doing right
now.”

I sat up in shock, covering myself with the sheets as if it would help. Lucas chuckled softly and fluffed the pillows. He held his arm out, and I leaned into him, embarrassed.

I tried to think of something else, something that didn’t have anything to do with his parents’ supernatural abilities, or his sultry abs, or me being the start of an apocalypse. I tried to think of something
safe.

As I twisted the edge of the blanket, resting my head on Lucas’s arm, a term I learned in high school chemistry came to mind.
Covalent bonding.
A simple term for when a chemical bond between atoms shared electrons. But I remembered that this bond was strongest when atoms shared similar electronegativities. That was Lucas and I. We were made up of different atoms—different cultures, different classes—but electronegativity formed that unseen connection between us, and I felt it every time we touched.
Our relationship can work. I know
it.

Lucas stood. “Come outside with
me.”

I reached for my shorts in the dark, but he held his hand
up.

“No. We aren’t going
far.”

I followed him to the balcony, where my nightgown flowed in the breeze. Lucas picked me up and stepped onto the ledge. I hung on tight as he jumped to the sand below and carried me toward the shore. As we got closer, I saw something shining in the water. Lucas put me down, and I walked to the shoreline, curious. A bright aqua glimmer came and went, twinkling in different spots like pixie dust, giving the waves a constant sparkling glow. I looked both ways down the shore. The water shimmered along the coast as far as I could
see.

“Why does the water glow? Is it bewitched?”

He looked to the black waters that sparkled so brightly. “No witch involved. It’s a bioluminescent organism that comes in with the red tide. When the waves crash, it sets them
off.”

“Bri would love this
place.”

Without a word, he knelt down and placed a hand in the water, catching one of the glowing specks on his fingertip. It was as tiny as a grain of sand. He took my arm, pressed the glowing seed to my skin, and began to draw. The small grain disintegrated as he moved, leaving a trail of glimmering, glowing light behind. When he finished, a heart shone on my arm in the same bright aqua as his tattoo. It was imperfect—dewy drops leaked down from the heart like dripping blood—but to me, it was flawless.

“You are
mi princesa,
and I promise that I will spend the rest of my life making you happy,” he said, brushing windblown hair out of my
eyes.

His endearment didn’t surprise me, but the eyes that rose to mine—that I knew even with my eyes closed—still
did.

“Do I scare you?” he
asked.

“No. I—” I couldn’t find the words I wanted. “I never imagined my life would end like
this.”

“End?”

“A fairytale.”

“Hmm.” He smiled and gave me a small kiss. “A sick fairytale, if you ask
me.”

“Twisted,” I agreed, and then he pulled me into
him.

The soft sand crunched between my toes as the waves washed our legs. A cool gust of wind swooped up my gown, but Lucas was quick to hold it down with one hand, the other pressed against the hollow of my back. The kiss felt new. It was a fresh passion that fired every nerve in my body and left a warmth that settled into my
heart.

All too soon, Lucas backed away, his wet lips glimmering in the moonlight. He brushed my cheeks softly and tilted his forehead to mine. He was a beautiful creature in the dark. I couldn’t stop my heart from beating harmony, a soft percussive moan of wanting, craving, and needing everything
Lucas.

“You taste good,” he
said.

I reached for his cheeks, but his hands clasped my wrists and pulled them
down.

“Don’t, please. I need a break,” he pleaded, embarrassment coloring his request. I didn’t get
it.

“A human break or an immortal
break?”

“A man break.” He chuckled.

I backed away. “Oh . . .”

He reached for my hand as I began to step away and pulled me close. “Best to not go too far. It isn’t
safe.”

I played with my hair as I blushed. “Right.”

He held his arms out. “May
I?”

I let him pick me up and carry me back to the room. The heart on my arm had faded, and I already wanted it back as he set me on the bed. I sat up, feeling a little
clammy.

“I need a moment,” I said, heading for the bathroom.

When I returned, Lucas was resting on the bed with one arm behind his head, the other outstretched for me. I curled into him and inhaled his immortal aura. I yawned. Sleep was my new
enemy.

“You must rest,” he
said.

“Not yet.” I burrowed my face into his
arm.

I fought the urge to fall asleep for as long as I could. I told Lucas stories of past Christmases with my family, including one where my brothers told me that there was no Santa Claus and I cried for two days. Lucas laughed at my innocence. He asked and I answered for hours. He tried not to laugh, but there were some stories he couldn’t
resist.

“I’m glad I can amuse you,” I yawned
again.

“I’ve never had any of those experiences. And I thought my life was odd,” he
teased.

I pinched Lucas, partly because he deserved it for laughing, and partly to make sure he was still by my side. I yawned again, a deep one that reached inside, and a sullen blackness consumed me. I awoke on a cold slab in a still, quiet room. Torches burned in each corner of the small, square space. I tried to sit up, but thick leather straps tugged my wrists and ankles
back.

“Lucas?” I called, frantically looking from side to side as thunder crashed outside.

Footsteps tapped toward me on the stone, and then an eerie laugh echoed around
me.

“Lucas’s precious virgin,” the voice said, its owner staying to the shadows where I couldn’t see his
face.

“Who are you? Where’s Lucas?” I asked, trying to wiggle
free.

“Lucas is looking for you.” The man taunted, sounding pleased with himself. He loosed a triumphant guffaw. “My plan worked perfectly.”

“Where am
I?”

“You don’t know?” The man clicked his tongue.
Shame on me
, it said. “It’s your own sacrifice ceremony.”

The skinny figure walked into the light of the torch, revealing a slightly concave face. Xavier.

I forced myself up, heart shredding through my chest, but nothing held me back this time. My hair stuck to my face as I looked around, the pounding in my head unbearable. I was back at the beach house, in my bed, alone, the sun seeping through the closed patio doors. I rubbed my forehead. It was too vivid to be just a dream. It was different from a blackout. I sat still for a moment, pondering as my body pulsed, and then I realized what I had guessed all
along.

“Oh no, oh no,” I muttered, freaking out as I scooted to the edge of the
bed.

My connection isn’t with Xavier. It’s with Mictlan. That’s why I felt a connection to that executioner at Solstice—because it belonged to Mictlan. That’s why I felt it was a bad idea to kill Xavier. He’d be a casualty, a useless, messy death that would cause more problems than we’d know what to do with.
That’s what Xquic meant, He’s not the
threat.

My hand flew to my mouth, covering its growing gape. “Mictlan knows,” I said, petrified.

Your own sacrifice ceremony.
Xavier’s words rang in my mind. Mictlan wouldn’t have done it like that. He’d have all of Xibalba watch, or he’d just have me. As what? His slave? His lover? I shivered. I had to warn Lucas about Xavier. He wasn’t working with Mictlan. I needed to be there, to tell him he didn’t have to kill Xavier. To let his mother deal with
it.

I ran to Lucas’s room and knocked urgently. He didn’t answer. I ran to Gabriella’s room and knocked harder, but she didn’t answer
either.

“Gabriella, Dylan!” I called, pounding my fist on their
door.

Still nothing. I rubbed my head as the drumming grew louder. I ran to Andrés and Valentina’s room, pounding and pounding until my knuckles were
raw.

“Tita!” I yelled into the still-sleeping house. No one answered.

I ran to the kitchen, hoping to find Marifer, but she wasn’t in the kitchen. Another short Alux with a big head stood at the stove, cooking something that smelled wonderful. He was a foot shorter than me, but underneath his uniform, I could tell that he was
strong.

I rushed over to him. “Hey you, what is your
name?”

He looked at me as if he didn’t understand and kept stirring the black contents of the pot. I stared at him relentlessly, but he didn’t change.
Great—language barrier.
I threw my hands in the air in disbelief and walked
away.