A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(10)

He broke the kiss first, breathing heavily as he pushed me away.

“I can’t continue this,” he panted. I stared back at him incredulously – how could he have pulled away? The physical tremors of Nevertide hadn’t managed to shake my world up as much as our kiss just had.

“What was that, Tejus?” I asked, referring to the intensity of what we’d just shared—had it been me alone? Or did he share the same feelings? I could see from the color in his cheeks he had certainly felt something.

He rose to his feet, offering me his hand. I took it, launching myself upward, irritated at his silence.

“Well?” I asked again.

He started to walk forward, in the direction of the portcullis, but I kept pace with him, trying to match his strides.

“I think it is perhaps another effect of your transformation,” he muttered eventually. “I can feel your energy when I kiss you—it’s different, more…intense.”

Is that a good thing?

“So why did you stop?” I asked, annoyed.

He came to an abrupt halt and swung to face me.

“Because we were in public, and I wanted you,” he bit out.

Oh.

Idiot, Hazel.

“Sorry—I missed that,” I stammered awkwardly, my cheeks hot.

“Don’t be,” he grunted. “Just know that whenever we’re together, I want more of you than I can have.”

Without waiting for me to reply, he stormed off toward Ash, who was waving him over. Ash stood at the rear of a large Hellswan-embossed carriage that had miraculously escaped being damaged, and was surrounded by stern-looking guards.

I thought about what he had said to me the night that Ash had officially become king. How he intended to marry me, when the time was right. I had been completely thrown by it — the simple way in which he’d said it, as if to him, it was an obvious conclusion. I hadn’t even spoken to Ruby about it…I guessed I was still trying to process everything. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that when the time came, I would say yes. I knew I wasn’t exactly the most experienced when it came to love and romance — Tejus was my first boyfriend, if I could even call him that — it kind of felt like a weird label for what we had, but I was still sure. I didn’t need to go out and kiss a million frogs to know that there was no one on Earth — in this dimension or any of the others — that would make me feel the way that Tejus did. On top of that, I didn’t think there was a single soul that would ever try to understand me the way he did — or support and protect me, no matter what the consequences. His love was humbling, and I didn’t ever want to lose it.

“Hey!” Ruby appeared next to me as Ash and Tejus debated over something.

“Hey.” I smiled at her, taking a step back. The instant I’d felt her energy, my thoughts had disappeared and the hunger had returned—clearly syphoning would only give me a short window of reprieve. Great. “What’s going on there?” I asked, gesturing toward the carriage.

“Didn’t Tejus tell you? Ash captured Queen Trina!” she replied, delighted.

I laughed at her Machiavellian smile. It was great news —hopefully we’d be able to get some answers out of Trina, and at the very least, the Acolytes would have lost their leader. She would also serve as a guilt-free energy buffet…

“Where’s Benedict?” I asked. We’d been separated when he’d been taken to be tended to by a minister.

“He’s fine. Come on, I’ll show you.” Ruby led me over to the other side of the gate, where the kids had gathered. Benedict was sitting up, back to back with Julian, chatting animatedly while Yelena hung onto his every word.

He looked up as I approached, breaking into a huge smile that mirrored my own. The last time I’d seen him properly was on the wet sand of the cove, barely alive after the entity had left him.

“Can I hug you yet?” he asked, his eyes filled with amusement.

“I’m still an energy-sucker.”

“This isn’t going to go well for me when we fight over the remote, is it?” He smirked.

“Nope. I suggest you get Mom or Dad to turn you into a vampire, otherwise you’re not going to stand a chance.”

Yelena looked at me in confusion, but I just shrugged—she would know who we were eventually, no doubt, but right now I couldn’t handle the ton of questions that would come with it…and I suspected Benedict would probably want to impart that news anyway.

“How are you feeling?” Benedict asked. “How come you passed out when you created the barrier?”

“I guess I’m not used to it, so stuff like that uses more energy…and I can’t syphon properly without hurting anyone, not yet, anyway.”

He nodded solemnly.

“I’m sorry, Hazel. That sucks.”

“Yeah,” I replied. “It does.”

Ash approached the group, clearing his throat to get our attention. He looked like he’d aged since I last saw him. Though I knew that Tejus hadn’t abdicated responsibility for Hellswan by a long shot, I was glad that he was no longer king—I couldn’t imagine how it must feel to be in charge of the kingdom right now, knowing that the care of the wounded and displaced fell entirely on his shoulders.

“How are you holding up, Ash?” I asked.