Page 86 of The Book of Legends
I spot Micah on the porch, dressed like a lazy version of a Greek god. His eyes find mine. Then drop to my legs. The urn in my hands. The black car at my side that pulses like somethingalive.
His brow tightens. His jaw sets.
And I know what’s coming.
Behind me, Kainen’s voice curls again, silk and steel.
“Shall I keep driving?”
“No,” I whisper, steadying my breath. “I have you with me.”
The Night the Fire Ceased to Sleep
Micah leans on the porch railing, a golden ring coils around his bicep. A white tunic drapes lazily across his chest. His face sharpens the second he spots me.
His eyes trail down my legs, bare beneath the skirt I forgot I was even wearing. Then to the urn clutched against my chest. And finally, to the black, sleek beast of a car behind me—still humming with heat.
The Kainen.
Micah’s jaw locks. He rises to his feet like a soldier responding to a threat. Shoulders squared. Hurt. Possessive. A storm barely caged behind his eyes.
Micah, once my safe place, the boy who carried my aunt’s ashes at her funeral. The boy who kissed me like I was fragile. The boy who let me slip away, never realizing I was already gone.
Now... I’ve returned.
But I’m no longer the girl he thought I was.
“No,” I whisper. “You’re beside me.”
Kainen sticks close beside me. A tall shadow stitched from moonlight and menace. Not fully human. Not quite monster. Something in between. Dangerous and breathtaking.
Mine.
Whispers ripple through the party. “Is that Selene?”
“She’s not wearing her glasses.”
“Is that a freaking Lamborghini?”
With Kainen at my side, radiating a presence that silences rooms and sears skin, I move through the crowd like a blade slicing through water.
Then Micah steps forward.
“Selene,” he breathes, voice low and strained. His eyes dart to Kainen. “What the hell is going on?”
“Does it matter?” I reply coolly, my voice unshaken.
Pain twists his features. “You disappeared. No calls. No answers. And now… him?”
“He has a name,” I say. “Kainen.”
Kainen tilts his head. A predator measuring prey.
Micah bristles. “You don’t even know him.” Micah steps closer, voice lowering. “And now you’re sleeping with him?”
I open my mouth—but Kainen moves first. He steps between us, black leather and smoke and thunder. His voice cuts like a blade. “I suggest you tread carefully. Whatever she was to you is no more.”
Micah flinches, his mask cracking. “You’re not the same,” he says to me, almost mournful glancing at my dress. I'm thankful it's a costume party so I wouldn’t have to explain.
