by LJ Swallow
"I care about you a hell of a lot, Maeve. I’ll still protect you. I’d do anything you asked."
I want to let go of the emotions he’s provoked and tell him he’s hurt me, cause a fight, but Tobias’s words come to me. Vincent is trying to pull us apart and in Ash’s small way, he’s trying to stop that. There’s no all or nothing for me and Ash. We have to work with what we can. A terrible part of me wants Vincent to be an imposter, so Ash can be freed from his influence. The part of me terrified he may be the real Vincent after all.
Please let Tobias be right.
Ash wraps his fingers around mine. If I were childish, I’d pull away, but I appreciate his honesty even though I wish he’d not said any of this.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
MAEVE
One night, I’ll manage to sleep without lying awake while Amelia snores. Every day recently, the days' events swirl around my tired mind and today is no different. But as I pull my thick coat on over my pyjamas and slip on my boots, ready to take a walk, I question my motives. Is this more than head clearing?
I know where to find Andrei, if I want to.
He’s sitting on his bench, hunched over his phone as ever. I pause. Do I talk to him, or will that prompt more inside me? I watch him for a few moments, debating what to do. No. Tonight isn’t a good time to talk to him, considering what happened last time we sat on that bench and my current emotional state. I pull my coat closer around myself and take another circuit of the cloisters.
Once more before I try to sleep again.
I’m halfway around when shoes scuff behind me. On immediate alert, I spin around. Andrei stands a few feet away, hands in pockets.
"I know you’re watching me again, Maeve. Why is that?" Instead of anger, there’s amusement in his tone. "Don’t try to sneak around after a vampire. Even with your skills, it’s impossible."
The way he looks at me when we’re alone adds to my confusion. The defensive scowl that intrigued me early on is replaced by openness. Hell, he even smiles at me.
"I’m not sneaking," I say with a frown.
He shakes hair from his face. "I’m teasing. Why aren’t you in bed?"
"Couldn’t sleep. Visions on my mind. I also wanted to talk to you."
He raises a questioning brow. "I haven't had a chance to thank you for helping with Clive."
Andrei shrugs. "I don’t want you in trouble."
"I appreciate it."
His smile slips. "But I never knew about your ‘special skill’, Maeve. I’m hurt that you didn’t tell me you can control minds." He’s half serious. "I suppose the rest of our little gang knows."
"Yes. Sorry, I didn't think. You—"
"I’m not part of the group? Yeah."
"No. But you weren’t close. We weren’t. You’re part of us now."
He laughs with disbelief. "Right. Well, now I know I can watch out for you trying to control my mind."
I laugh at him and move towards him to touch his forehead. "I doubt I’d be able to find my way in there, even if I wanted to."
Andrei steps back, tensing. He pats his jeans pockets, eyes filled with consternation. "Shit."
"What have you lost?" I ask.
"Don’t come any closer, Maeve," he whispers. "Please."
I halt. "Okay, fine, you were the one who approached me." I swallow down the hurt at his rejection. How could I think our intimacy would go any further than a chat and hand holding? "You know, if you were friendlier to people, I think others would accept you more."
"I don’t give a crap if they accept me or not." He continues to search his pockets. "Shit. Maeve, please step back."
"What’s your problem?" He grimaces at me and inhales. Is he holding his breath? "Do I smell bad or something? Jeez..."
Andrei swallows down a laugh. "You have no idea."
I stare at him in disbelief. "Wow. Okay."
He shifts to look over my shoulder, and I swear he’s about to run. "I can't talk to you right now, Maeve."
I take a deep breath. "You hurt me, do you know that?"
"What?" He jerks his head back to me. "How?"
"This probably sounds stupid to you, but I feel you understand me and you always help me out, but then you push me away."
"You have enough friends. You don’t need another."
"I need one who watches my back the way you do," I say softly. "Who cares about me. Who I care about."
Andrei blinks at me as if I slapped him. "You hate me and my blood-drinking evilness." His sarcasm hides more—a hurt he lets slip around me. "I killed someone, remember?"
I push onwards with words I need to say because they tumble around my mind constantly. "I had a vision and you were there, Andrei, and I can’t stop thinking about what I saw."
"Vision?" he asks sharply. "Of my death?"
"No. I do see more than deaths in my visions, you know." I chew my lip. "You’re a friend and I’ve decided not to hide anything from friends."
"I’m not your friend, Maeve," he mutters. "Not like the others."
I push on. "My aunt has weird hallucinations. She gets confused between the present and the future, and last term that happened to me. I saw you. I was with you. In the future."
"I don’t understand. What do you mean 'with me'?" Andrei tips his head and the sensation someone stroked my scalp tingles through. His face fills with horror and he steps back. "Maeve."
"What?"
"You kissed me." He speaks the words as if I’d murdered someone.
"No." My protest is too quick. Too vehement.
"I catch flashes of memories in your mind. You know that."
My heart rate picks up. "Oh." My mouth dries as I relive the moment that plays over and over, at how tenderly he kissed me. How his lips felt. "Stop looking in my head. I don't know why I saw us, Andrei, but I did."
"Any good?"
"Are you asking if it was a good kiss?"
A smile plays at the edge of his lips. "Yeah."
"I don't know. I pushed you away. Why is this funny?"
"It’s not, Maeve. This really isn't funny. Is this something you want to do?" I’d expect a teasing tone, smug smirk, but no. Andrei’s face is a picture of confusion. "Maeve?"
This was supposed to be a light conversation, but suddenly an imaginary kiss becomes the focus. Why do I want Andrei’s attention so much when I have other guys who care? Am I foolishly convinced I’ll fix the broken boy?
"I don't know," I admit.
"Shit." Andrei holds his palm against his forehead. "I wish your answer was no."
"No, you don’t."
He folds his arms around himself. "I want to be around you without being overwhelmed physically, and I’m trying to, but I can’t block out the effect your blood has on me. That’s why I wish you’d said no."
I tense at his admitting what we both know. Witch and hemia vampire. Incompatible.
"I understand."
"Did you know that’s why I always chew gum around you? So I keep control. The mint dulls my senses. Stops me wanting you."
I burst out laughing at the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard from a guy.
But his stony face cuts my laughter dead.
Wow. He’s serious.
Andrei closes the distance he put between us. "I want to connect with you as Maeve and Andrei, not vampire and witch." His eyes shine in the moonlight.
"I don’t believe you’ll hurt me."
I tense as his hand slides into the back of my hair. "You radiate something I crave more than blood, and when we’re close, that worries me. Not because I think I’ll hurt you, but because this is more than obsessing about your witch blood."
I reach out to place my index finger on his lips. "And I don’t think my blood is the only thing that attracts you. I think you’re scared because I have something else that scares you."
"Such as?" My body heats everywhere as his fingers massage the nape of my neck. Andrei told me we can't get close, but he’s contradicting himself.
He gently pulls my fingers from his mouth. "No, Maeve. You’re wrong. I have a need for you that rages through every cell in my body when we’re close like this. I’ve seen you with Ash and how gentle he is because he sees you as something fragile." Andrei’s fingers press into my skin. "I know you’re not fragile, and I don't want to be gentle with you. If you want tenderness, you’re looking at the wrong person."
"But you were," I murmur staring at his mouth. "In my vision, your kiss was gentle."
"Don’t talk about kissing me," he says voice thick. "Don’t keep putting that thought in my mind."
"Then why are you touching me?"
"Because we’re hidden in the dark," he says with a wry smile. "We’re not here."
There’s a thrill that accompanies his words and touch. A secrecy that we meet like this and could hide from the world, that I could indulge a side of me that I pretend I don’t have. A raw, physical need.
"I don’t care whether your kisses are gentle or not, Andrei. You think your body overwhelms common sense around me? I feel the same."
"You can’t trust me," he whispers.
I rest my forehead on his and the intense need pools in my stomach. The frustration with Andrei builds, but because he holds back and I want to prove I can make him kiss me? Or is this something more?
"I can trust you, Andrei. Don't push me away, and I’ll prove that you can trust yourself."
My heart thuds faster. Weeks ago, I didn't want to be in the same room as Andrei, but now all I want is time alone with him. I touch his face again, unable to resist running my fingers across his skin. Craving a connection. There’s no need to look into each other’s minds to read what we both want.
As my fingers reach his lips, Andrei grabs my wrist. His mouth hits mine, breath knocked away as my back slams hard against the wall. This isn’t like my vision. Andrei’s response is exactly what I imagined—harsh, uncontrolled, devouring.
I grip his hair and return his bruising kiss, our tongues exploring each other's mouths. Andrei growls low in his throat and pinions me against the wall with his hips, hungry mouth still over mine. In that one move, he wipes away thoughts of anything but my matching obsession over what kissing Andrei would be like.
I slide my hands beneath his T-shirt, exploring the tight abs and digging my nails into the muscles of his lower back. I can’t move and barely breathe, lost in the heady kiss.
Andrei pushes his hand inside my coat and beneath my top, sweeping his fingers lightly along my side. My legs weaken and if he didn’t have me pinned against the wall by his hips, I’d be a heap on the floor.
I could tell myself this is due to Ash’s rejection, but I knew this moment would happen the day I first saw Andrei.
Andrei pulls away as quickly as he pushed me, breath coming in short bursts to match mine. "This is wrong."
"That didn't feel wrong to me."
He straightens my coat, face shadowed as he focuses on the action. "A really bad idea."
"I don't care."
Andrei stares in shock for a few moments. "I could hurt you." He holds up his shaking hands. "Badly. Look at what one kiss is doing to me. We should rewind before this gets out of control. Before I get out of control."
I should agree, but the memory of his kiss remains on my lips. "I don’t think we can."
Circling an arm around my waist, Andrei pulls me closer and rests his head on mine. "This is more than holding hands in the dark, Maeve."
I laugh at him. "I’m aware of that."
"And adds a whole new dimension to our ‘accidental meetings’." His breath strokes my skin as he speaks, cool against the heat.
"They were accidental," I protest and pull away.
"I wait for you every night."
My calming heart rate picks up again at his admission. "Do you?"
"Yes." I slide my hands around his shoulders and stroke the nape of his neck. "I'm not going to kiss you again, Maeve."
"Ever?"
He chews the corner of his mouth but doesn't reply. If this is so wrong, why does everything feel right? My body craves his touch and kiss, for him to overwhelm me, but there’s also a comfort in his embrace. We fit together, even if we shouldn't. The misfits. The witch and the vampire hiding in the shadows. Andrei and Maeve no longer hiding from each other.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
MAEVE
The mental magic challenge takes place in the main hall. I've sat exams before with rows of students at desks, the room filled with nervous tension as their futures depended on their performance.
This is a competition and not an exam, but my stomach churns with fear I’ll fail.
I'm confused why Gilgamesh take part. I've found their minds easy to control, plus they don't take mental magic lessons. Apparently, the shifters’ skill is blanking their minds, a technique learned through meditation. Defensive rather than offensive.
Petrescu's offensive attacks could hurt more than the physical pain from exhausting survival challenges.
I wait against the wall, lined up with other students as we wait to be assigned our opponents. As usual, we’re grouped in our houses. Ash met us earlier, and things were awkward but not unpleasant. Tobias told me Vincent’s aim is to pull the group apart.
My attachment to Ash is more than romantic—I can hold onto and build on our friendship to keep him close. There’s no doubt Ash was hurting when he spoke to me last night, and shunning him from the group because he hurt my feelings would be immature and unfair.
And what Vincent wants.
But how can I not feel rejected? I soaked up Ash’s attention as if he were the sun shining on me in this gloom. He filled me with a warmth I haven’t felt for a long time. What girl doesn’t like when a guy looks at her as if she lights up his world too?
Like Andrei does. Every time our passionate kiss crosses my mind, heat surges through my blood. I tasted something forbidden, from a guy who admitted he won't be gentle. That thought sends my mind in all kinds of crazy directions. But could we ever risk more than a kiss?
Nearby, Vincent, Tobias, and Sofia speak in hushed tones, although Tobias's voice rises. Andrei caught up with us earlier but avoided speaking to or looking at me. He spoke to Tobias last night—as I suspected, Tobias can’t talk to Katherine, but he can keep a close eye on her. I keep an eye on her too—standing with her cronies, ignoring those around and flicking through her phone.
Tobias storms away from the pair and stands at the desk towards the front of the hallway.
One by one, he announces each student and their challenger. "Amelia. Ashley."
Amelia's relief replaces the nail-chewing anxiety she’s had since she walked in here. If her weak skills were challenged by Petrescu, they’d tear her apart and destroy her confidence.
"Katherine Edelston. Maeve Foster."
The deep anger on Tobias's drawn features grows and he scowls in Vincent and Sofia’s direction. Frankly, I don't care since I'm not scared of her, and happily take her on. Plus, I’m on the lookout for tricks when others might not be. She could cheat, but not against me.
Katherine stalks across the hall to take her place at the allocated table and with a sigh, I walk over too.
Chair legs screech around the hall as each pair sit to face each other across the desk. Katherine folds her arms in front of her, revealing dark blue nails with tips decorated by moons and stars.
I'm rarely this close to Katherine, but when I am, she fascinates me. The girl's skin is air-brushed clear, but there's no photoshopping here. Her large blue eyes and cupid bow lips give her a doll-like appearance, but she can flick on sultry in the blink of an eye. If her challenger were a guy, he'd struggle against her lamia powers, whether used deliberately or not. Katherine is breathtaking—and annoying as hell.
"Well, this is a
surprise," she purrs, but there’s none on her face.
"This will be interesting, yes."
"How is Ash? I've noticed you two are closer." Her eyes narrow in warning. "I wish you’d listen to me. You need to."
"No. I don’t."
Her lips part as I use the word few people say to her.
She taps her fingernails on the desk. "Something weird is happening with you and your lapdogs. What?"
I look over her shoulder. Is Katherine using this a technique to disarm me before we begin? To rile me so I lose focus? Katherine opens her bag and I sit up, anxious to see what she has in there. A small, pink hairbrush. I stare as she brushes her already perfect hair.
"Are you ready to lose?" I whisper.
She looks at me as if I’m an imbecile. "That won't happen."
"Why? Because you believe your cheating potion will work on me?"
She maintains an innocent look as she drops the hairbrush into her bag and zips it closed. "Silly Andrei told you this, I presume. He’s always full of stories. Do you know the stories about him?"
"Yes."
She shakes her head with a patronising smile. "I bet you don’t know them all."
"I’m sure I don’t."
Andrei sits opposite Jade, several desks behind Katherine. Jade is a skilled elemental witch, but I don’t fancy her chances against Andrei’s mental skill.
Katherine glances around at him. "He's good, by the way."
"Yes. Andrei's not as bad as everybody thinks."
Her laughter chimes around us. "That's not what I mean, Maeve. He's skilful, if you get my drift."
I blink rapidly. Has Andrei... with Katherine? When?
She holds up an index finger and makes a winding motion around with her other hand. "Do you think he's under your spell? It’s the other way around, Maeve. Andrei is a predator, and he has his sights on you."
I keep my eyes on hers, refusing to show her words delve into the wariness I have around Andrei. If only she knew the truth.
"One of Andrei’s skills is his camouflage. Pretends he’s a broken bad boy who resists affection until the right girl touches his heart." She places a hand on her chest and pulls a face. "All he wants is to feed his disgusting needs."