That was when Solomon sat on the bed on the side closest to the window. It figured that he would sit in the one spot that would require that I turned away from the rest of the people in the room. Although I knew that they were there, it sounded like little conversations were being held off to the side to allow us the moment together.
"So." Solomon smiled at me with a twinkle in his amazing blue-green eyes.
"So." I echoed for him so that he could know that I was with him, and that I was ready for whatever he was prepared to do or say.
I looked deeply into his eyes this time, unafraid of what the future was going to hold, and I knew that there was so much worth fighting for. And I am definitely going to fight.
I smiled over at him as he stared at me with his swirling orbs of emotions. Immediately I began to hear the ocean in my ears, crashing, rolling and swelling. I knew that the call of the ocean was what kept me so close to the Pacific coastline. I knew that I couldn't live without it, but it now felt that, strangely enough, if I was near Solomon I had the ocean with me in some unique and surreal way. Had he become that important to me? As important as the ocean had always been to me in the past? I cocked my head to the side as I looked at his amazing eyes, firm facial features, scruffy five o'clock shadow, and his spiky dirty-blond hair.
Yes, he's that important.
I smiled up at him and wanted to wink, but judging from his expression, we were well past the winking point of the conversation.
Solomon stared down at his hands as he struggled for words. "I wanted to give you a gift as well. I guess I didn't plan it very well, because I had intended to give it to you much earlier than Cora's birth. Actually, that was what I had wanted to talk to you about right before we found out that you were in labor."
Turning his head off to the side with a small growl, he threw a disgusted look out towards the window as if what had interrupted his predestined moment was standing just outside. He frowned down at his hands and my eyes followed his to find that he was holding a small black leather box edged in gold. His fingers fidgeted with the box for a minute before finally turning his eyes back up to mine, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips impatiently.
"I'm not quite sure how to give this to you." His voice drifted away from me like it was running away.
The room seemed to have fallen silent. There couldn't have been a soul in the room, judging from the sounds, but I knew that we had a room full of men consumed with judging each other and protecting Cora. No one was going to leave when there was so much at stake.
Solomon silently clasped the box in his hands as he closed his eyes and took a ragged breath. "This is just a small token of how I feel about you, Celeste. I hope that you understand that nothing I could ever give you could ever compare to what you have given to me by simply existing." Still, everyone could have heard a pin drop from the quiet that was reverberating from the walls, the floor, the ceiling...every surface echoed the dead silence of the room.
Solomon released a gusty breath from between his tense lips before leaning over and opening the box to reveal the treasure that he felt expressed his affection and love for me.
It was the most breathtaking art deco ring I had ever seen. And, since my heart was in near hysterics that the ring was going to be an engagement ring, I was excessively relieved by the sight of the stunning sapphire and diamond ring. Blinded by the stunning piece of jewelry, I reached up with my shaking hand as Solomon held the box out for me to touch.
"The ring is symbolic of how I love you." Solomon's voice rang through my mind, branding this moment into my memory for all time. "The three oval blue sapphires stand for the past, present and future—the times in which I have been devoted to and in love with you. The diamonds are representative of the hopes and dreams that we will fulfill together. We have so much to look forward to." He smiled at me, now secure about his heart-pounding speech. "The style is art deco because I know that you love it so very much. The ring is set in white gold, because I know that you would prefer these stones to be set in white. It is your preference for blue sapphires and diamonds together to be set in white gold."
He sounded so sure of himself, and it made me smile to hear him talk about what I preferred and enjoyed so definitely. He was right, of course, but the fact that any man had paid such strict attention to my preferences and desires was very...attractive. I eyed him as his muscles rippled even though he wasn't moving. He was tense and trying to hold himself still.
I smiled my widest smile for Solomon as he peered up at me through his eyelashes from his spot on the edge of the bed. When he finally caught the genuine happiness that I felt, the love that I was allowing to pour forth and into him, he smiled back at me and began to laugh. I laughed in return because his laughter was like oxygen to my weary heart. There was no denying this man anything. I couldn't imagine going another day without him, much less living my life minus his loving attention. Dylan was just going to have to learn to like Solomon...or else.
I held my left hand out to him as I dangled my fingers in front of his face. He took the ring out of the box slowly and then reached for my right hand instead of the left. That actually caught me off-guard, because I always wore my rings on my left hand.
"This, my love, is a sweetheart's ring." His eyes gleamed as his eyebrows waggled up and down. "And I am declaring that you are my sweetheart."
With a slow, ceremonious motion, he placed the ring on the middle finger of my right hand.
"How very old fashioned of you," I giggled as he placed the gorgeous ring on my finger. "And, so, what does that entail? Being sweethearts, I mean." I turned my head and eyed him coyly as he smiled at me wolfishly.
"Oh, things that you are going to have problems admitting to your father in the future. Let's see..." My heart began to pound underneath my pajamas like I was running a relay. "Sitting on porches, holding hands, sneaking kisses when no one is looking, taking long walks together, talking for hours and hours on end. You know," he smiled wickedly, "all of those things that you wouldn't admit to in the morning."
He then reached down and kissed the ring, turning over my hand and lingering on the inside of my wrist. My heart rate spiked as he let his lips walk their way slowly up my arm with burning, but gentle kisses, giving me a sharp helping of goose bumps. Pulling away expertly, he winked deeply as he leaned forward again, invading my personal space as if he owned it.
"Oh yeah?" My voice shook as his lips came dangerously close to touching mine.
"Yeah." He whispered, and I could feel his cool breath brush my lips. My eyes fluttered closed as I prepared for the touch of his delicious lips...but they didn't come.
28
"Solomon?" I whispered as I fought to keep my eyes closed and my lips puckered, fighting desperately not to feel idiotic. I finally allowed my lips to return to normal as I opened my eyes to see what was going on.
Gasping, I realized the room was lined with hideously grotesque shadow demons. We were no longer safe in the castle, in my own quarters. The feeling of insecurity immediately flooded through my veins as I fought to keep my thoughts level.
Every man in the room was now standing, eyeing the lot lining the walls. They were all doing the mental math to figure out just how long they had been standing there and what the hell we were going to do about them.
"Jackson! Get the baby to Celeste and protect them!" Solomon stepped forward, blocking the view of the three shadow demons closest to me.
The sound of hissing and growling was impossible to miss, as if the shadow demons were trying to decide how to proceed. They were clearly waiting for orders, though, because they didn't make a move to advance on us. That alone was a point in our favor.
I scanned the room and found, besides the fact that Jack was making his way to Cora, step by painstaking step, every other man in the room had taken points around the bed like a wall of masculine muscle. Gabriel, Leo, Solomon and Von were all standing at different points of the bed, ensuring that nothing could get th
rough, much less harm either Cora or me.
The men protecting us now were the most powerful, most fierce, most determined wall of man flesh that I could have ever pictured, and they all had their backsides to me. It was a bit too much for my hormone-riddled mind to bear.
Clean thoughts. You love Solomon. My eyes flicked over to Solomon's backside and I drank in every little detail. What the hell is wrong with you, Celeste?! We are being attacked, for Hades' sake! You have GOT to get yourself TOGETHER!
I snapped back into reality just when Jack leaned in and softly handed Cora to me, his arms slightly reluctant to release her. He obviously felt that she was safer in his arms, and I couldn't doubt that she probably would be, but we needed him in the protective line.
"Jack, I promise that I will do my part if you do yours." I leaned in to rest my forehead on his as he tried to tear his eyes off of Cora.
Pulling back slowly, Jack released his hold and turned his back to me, taking his position near my bed pillow. His back shoulders were so broad and burly that it almost looked like a different person.
That was when the shadow demons began growling, cutting all thoughts down to nothing until a chuckle drifted towards the bed from the front of the room.
"Ahhh, Celeste, my dear." I recognized the voice instantly. It was Maximilian. "I see that you are in a bit of a pickle." His voice drifted over to the bed from his position, and a part of me instantly became ill.
My stomach began to rock with waves of nausea as I heard my breath catch. No. I will not let this man scare me—my baby is much too important. He will know what it means to poke the mama bear!
I narrowed my eyes at him and felt my body begin to grow warmer. "Call off your pets." I snarled through my wall of men. My man wall. Hmmmm. Snap out of it! I snapped my fingers and my thoughts instantly cleared. There wasn't enough time to be distracted. Not now, anyway.
Max walked around the room casually, gazing leisurely at the decor as if he were deciding if he was going to buy the place or not. Maybe he thought that he was going to inherit the castle, but the way that Max was clearly avoiding Leo's side of the bed was telling. Leo was probably burning holes into Max's psyche with his mere presence, and Max was desperately trying to pretend that Leo wasn't even in the room. But by doing so, he was advertising that Leo intimidated him. Well, let's see who intimidates him now.
A wicked grin I didn't know I had at my disposal began to spread across my face. I was also positive that my eyes were beginning to glow with my crazed road rage look, because when Max glanced at me through the man wall, his step stuttered and he almost tripped. Good! I wanted to burst out with a bright, wicked laugh, but I was saving that for later.
"Get the hell out, Max. We do not want or need you here." I sneered at him as he leaned forward to get a closer look at my expression. He winced as he stood back up and flicked his hand up in the air.
"It is painfully obvious that motherhood has taken its toll on you, Celeste. You are really quite haggard looking. I wouldn't be surprised if you begin to look your true age. What is it again? One hundred years old? The time has truly caught up to you. What a shame." He sauntered around the room and turned his back to the bed, gazing up and down his line of shadow demons along the walls of the room.
"I'm older than that, little boy." Max's shoulders bristled at the 'little boy' comment and I sneered at the back of his black outfit that just never seemed to get any more attractive.
Max turned around with pure hate in his eyes and took three halting steps in my general direction. He stopped as Leo and Von stepped closer to each other, closing the gap between them to keep him from making any progress towards me. But Max was not distracted. He took a step backwards and watched as the men loosened their spacing slightly to allow themselves to cover more area. His eyes brushed up and down the line of men around the bed as he leaned to the side to wink at me.
"Quite the little harem you have here, Celeste."
"You can call me 'your highness.' Or maybe just 'goddess supreme' since you are just a bug that deserves to be stomped." My voice held a cold tone as I stared at him from behind my wall of protective men. I heard a chuckle come from Jack's side of the bed and it steeled my resolve to carry on.
Max shook with rage as he growled. "Insolence! You will pay for thinking you can treat me this way, witch."
He threw his hands forward and I immediately reacted with power of my own as a wave of energy flew from him straight into Leo's broad figure. A shield of pure blue energy shot up around our group as soon as Leo's body fell back on the bed with a loud grunt. My eyes were firmly set on Max's, but I watched worriedly through the corner of my eye as Leo pushed off of the bed, lunging forward as if he were going to attack the man. Von's firm hand pulled Leo back into our protected area and he shook his head.
"Celeste has us covered." He flicked his chin back towards me, but kept his eyes on Leo's face.
I couldn't see Leo's reaction except when he brushed himself off and threw his shoulders back, squaring his posture. The back of his suit creaked with the strain of his muscles bulging with stress and tension.
A gust of wind blasted over my shield as I felt the onslaught of Max's anger bursting against my mind. His rage was obvious by the growls and grunts that he was rolling in his chest. An icy smile began to shape on my lips as I eyed him dangerously.
"You will pay." Max growled again as he began to pace around the room, eyeing my shield as if he was going to find a gap that he could take full advantage of.
The room sat in absolute silence. The shadow demons twitched in the dancing lights cast by the fireplace while Max paced back and forth, trying to gather his wits about him.
Just then the door burst open and Camela ran into the room, feral and evil just like the wicked demon witch that she was. Her eyes were aflame with ruby fire as she began to attack and rip apart the shadow demon closest to her. Her growls and snarls rang through the room as she proceeded to kill the shadow demons one by one like she was picking them off in a line of idiotic chickens. She was a whirlwind of pure destruction, and she was a lot more fearsome than I had originally surmised. She was a force of nature that would not be contained, and I was fiercely grateful that she was fighting for Leo and not this spoiled little vampire-warlock child that was pitching a little hissy fit in our honor.
Max stepped backward as if he was truly concerned about Camela and her dangerous talon-like claws. He eyed her progress as she slowly continued to decimate the gathering of shadow demons.
Leo growled in his spot, heaving with anger as he twitched, clearly wanting to join the fight. Von leaned forward and spoke with fear in his voice as Max began to concentrate on Camela, setting the full force of his angry eyes on her. "Camela! Come within the circle! Hurry!" His voice was clipped as Camela turned around to see what was going on behind her.
In a blink, Max was standing behind her, grasping the handle of a silver dagger that was suddenly protruding deep from Camela's back.
"Noooo!" Leo's voice rang through the room as Camela's eyes gleamed with anger and fierce rage. She didn't even have the sense to look frightened!
"My king," Camela whispered as she turned her head to face Leo, the color leaching from her body as she drew her final breath. Her vivid eyes fluttered as the fierce ruby glow of her irises began to transition to the dull black of death.
It was a horrifying sight—Camela's life fading from her body as she slumped forward onto the cold floor, her blood running black against the rich brown boards of wood. I heard myself gasp as I watched her body begin to shrivel and blacken.
"Oh, my god," I whispered underneath my breath, clutching Cora closer to me. Camela, the most fearsome woman I had ever met in my life, was dead at the hands of a...a...brat. My body began to shake and convulse with anger. I had never really liked Camela, but she had put herself in the way of danger to protect my baby. She had cared for Cora, now lying in my arms, and that was enough for me.
I looked down at Cora's spa
rkling golden eyes, and it was like she knew. She knew that something big was going to happen, and she was ready. My eyes settled back on Max's proud face, full of hate and loathing as he turned back around and brushed his hands off in front of himself as if he had just finished doing something dirty.
Camela's blood was still on his hands as he turned back to face us.
Leo's growl came again and Von kept his hand on Leo's shoulder, steadying him and keeping his tense body firmly in place.
Looking at Max with ever-growing fury, I pulled my lips across my teeth in a fierce display of anger. "You!" I growled. "You will pay for killing Camela, and anything else you have done in the past. You will pay for every wicked little thing you have done, said, or thought. I don't care who your 'mommy' is, and I don't care what you do. You are nothing but a smear on the memory of this world. You are nothing." I seethed as a rich blue glow began to appear just beyond my vision. I could see everything suddenly with more detail and contrast. After clearing my mind to accept the strange turn in my powers, I realized that I could actually see through Max and see that his heart was beating rapidly with fear. He was afraid of me and my powers, but he had no idea. He had no inkling about how powerful I could be when I was angry.
Max tried to laugh casually as he began to pace around the room again, my eyes following his movements as he fought for calm and tried to gain control over his own thoughts. It was clear that he was considering running, but running from what? He wasn't quite sure. He turned back around when he was back in the center of the room, twitching his hands at his sides as if he were getting ready to cast his magic again. I had no idea what he was preparing to do.
"You wish you could do something about it." Max raised his hands again towards our protective circle and anger-powered energy washed over me like an ocean wave. It crested and poured over me like a fierce tidal wave, crashing through my body and filling me with intense power.
Ritual Magic Page 27