High Society - Page 57

He blinked thoughtfully. “Yes.”

“She was looking for something.”

“Just as you are now,” he pointed out.

“I don’t know what she wanted, and it’s driving me insane.”

“What about you? What do you want?”

I took a deep breath and dodged the question. “I’m not sorry for what I did to her.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“And I won’t justify or excuse myself.”

“You feel like I excuse what she did?”

“Yep.” Bingo. Give him a prize. “But at least I figured out who stabbed my clone, so I guess poking around has its perks.” He stepped closer to see what was hidden in the wardrobe’s false bottom. A knife, still showcasing a few streaks of dried blood on the blade. “I’m guessing the attacker didn’t drop the knife in the garden.”

“No, he didn’t,” Enoch replied warily.

“She stabbed herself,” I surmised.

“Why on earth would she do that?” he scoffed.

There were a lot of reasons, but the simplest was likely the truest. “Because she was loyal to her cause. She was told to do whatever it took to get one of the three of you to bite her and turn her. She was desperate, and desperation makes a person do things that wouldn’t make sense under normal circumstances.”

Realization dawned on Enoch’s face. “She thought if she were dying, he’d turn her to keep her alive.”

“And my guess is that when she realized he wouldn’t, she pulled her suit up and saved herself.”

“I don’t blame you for using the holy water on my sister,” Enoch added. “I admire you for it. For what it’s worth.”

Wait, what? He admired me for it?

“The fact that you used it instead of staking her was a warning – and a mercy. I’m grateful you gave her both.” He stood, shifting his weight on his feet. Then he confounded me again by clearing his throat. “Can I… God, can I just hold you?”

Hold me?

“It’s just that, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you and since you’ve arrived, I’ve only seen you for a few moments here and there, at best. You landed when I was riding away, and when I returned, it was to find Asa’s home on fire and learn that mine had been destroyed. So much has happened, so much to keep us apart, but enough of that. Apart from you isn’t where I want to be.”

I stood toe-to-toe with him and pushed up on the tips of my toes, pulling his face down to mine. I wanted his kiss more than I needed to be held. I wanted to consume him and let him consume me in the process.

Closing my eyes, I fell into his kiss, letting my mind think about nothing but the feel of him. For a moment, the past and future were meaningless. The present, this moment, was all that mattered. For one, blissful moment, we weren’t fighting to survive.

His hands ran down the length of my arms, leaving a trail of goosebumps over my skin. He wove his fingers into my hair and held my lips steady against him. We kissed for seconds. For minutes. It could’ve been hours.

I couldn’t figure out how to make the moment last forever. I didn’t want him to pull away, or to open my eyes again.

I just wanted him.

It seemed like the simplest, yet most impossible thing in the world. Nothing lasts forever, I told myself as he finally pulled away, nuzzling into my neck. He ran his nose up the length of my jugular, inhaling.

I froze.

“Enoch?”

He parted his lips and scraped the delicate skin on the column of my neck with his elongated fangs. I pushed him away, hard.