The memory of him leaping after me in the old castle returns. The safety of his arms. The deafening sound of his plate clanging against the hard floor, the wind knocked from him as he shielded me from the brunt of the impact.
“I don’t want the others to think I’m weak.”
“Knowing when to accept help is a sign of strength, not weakness.”
They already know I’m not a hunter. What would it hurt? “It won’t exhaust you too much?”
“Careful, Floriane.” His voice is low and thick. “You’ll make me think you actually care for a vampire, speaking like that.”
“I thought it was vampir?” I arch my eyebrows, not willing to be caught off guard.
He chuckles. “You, my bloodsworn, may call me whatever you please. May I?”
I can only manage a nod. Ruvan leans forward and scoops me into his arms. My arms wrap around his neck on instinct and I hold him tightly for support. Our eyes meet. My breath hitches. I’m drawn to his lips constantly now. But the sun shines light on my better sense.
I can’t kiss him in front of them. I can barely handle my own judgment. The judgment of others would be too much.
His eyes trail down my face, landing on my mouth, then dropping to my neck. Ruvan’s muscles tense slightly. His strength ripples around me. My thoughts wander and I imagine him carrying me back to our chambers. In my fantasy, we make it as far as the chapel. For the vampir gods to see, he lays me on the stone, velvet coat beneath me. He kisses down my neck, slowly, sensually, ripping through my shirt with forceful and controlled movements. Then he—
“We should get going,” I force myself to say as my cheeks grow hot. “They’re almost across.” Somehow time seems to have slowed from the moment he scooped me up until now. What was only a minute, seconds perhaps, felt like a small eternity he and I shared.
“We should,” he agrees, sounding somewhat…forlorn? Before I can linger on it, Ruvan leaps onto the beam. I tighten my grip slightly. He chuckles and the sound is inside of me as much as I hear it. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Obviously I do. But I don’t like how helpless I feel like this.” The ground is very far away, and while his steps are confident, it’s hard not feeling the snow or ice, not knowing if I am one second from plummeting.
“Shall I put you down?”
“Don’t you dare.” I glare up at him.
He smirks, but keeps his focus ahead. The expression slowly fades when we’re about halfway across. “I must apologize for making you do this on your own the first time.”
“You thought I was a hunter.”
“Even if you were a hunter, this was too risky for a human.”
“It was. But I’m fine. All’s well that ends well.”
“All’s well that ends well,” he repeats. “I like that expression.”
“Haven’t you heard it before?” I ask. He shakes his head. “It’s a fairly common one.”
“In your world, perhaps.”
I hum. “I wonder just how much there is we don’t know about each other’s worlds, still.”
“A good many, wonderful things, I think.” He smiles slightly.
Our conversation is cut short by our arrival at the far end, where Winny and Callos are waiting. Ruvan puts me down gently and we head inside. We roam back through the hallways and rooms, back up to the first hall I arrived at. The sword I brandished against Ruvan is still on the floor, discarded. I can’t help but smile at it now.
“We’ll go first and scout it out. Take the attention of any Succumbed,” Winny says, walking toward the far end of the room. I notice a small circle of stones I hadn’t before. She stands in the center and disappears with a smoky cloud.
“That’s the opening in the castle’s barriers?” I surmise.
“It is,” Ruvan affirms as Callos steps away. “Are you ready?” Ruvan extends a hand to me.
“I am.” My fingers slide against his and he guides me to the circle.
In a moment, I breathe shadow and darkness, bracing myself for whatever this mysterious “museum” holds.
