Page 45 of Her Dreadful Will
His presence coiled around her, fragrance and heat and power. Again she felt it, that blend of vulnerability and recklessness that awakened in her when he was this close. She let herself look at him, reallylook, at his crisp pale features and sharp jawline, the dark arched brows, and theeyes, oh god his eyes, the prettiest shape with such thick lashes. His lips parted, and she could hear him breathing fast and shallow.
His face moved a little nearer to hers.
“I have questions.” The words drifted out of her, a faint protest because she didn’t want him to kiss her here, in the cracked heart of the hillside.
He turned away, his shoulder scraping against wet stone. “There’s a place we can talk. The pavilion near the parking lot. I’ll have to wait there for Lindsey anyway—he’s my ride home.”
“Or—” She couldn’t believe what she was about to suggest, or how much she wanted him to agree. “I could give you a ride after we talk. We could even have a drink at my place later, if you want.”
His voice was careful, controlled. “Sure. Whatever you’re comfortable with.”
A tight silence pulsed between them as they moved through the crevice. Soleil’s heartbeat was wreaking havoc in her chest. Had she really just invited him to her house? He was practically a stranger.
But who was she kidding? The entire night had felt like foreplay. Had he seriously been through multiple circles like that and never slept with anyone afterward?
He was disturbingly free of normal “vices”—smoking, drugs, excessive drinking, sexual debauchery. He was, by all appearances, a clean-living, respectable person. He was also a walking discrepancy, with tattoos of leaves across his fingers to enhance harmless nature magic—and then the symbols for chaos, horror, pain, and ruin etched into his skin as well.
Maybe true wickedness didn’t always indulge in lavish sensual excesses. Maybe the most dangerous wickedness was quiet, controlled, and polite, with a catlike smile and flashing green eyes.
She should be cautious, and careful. That was her nature, wasn’t it? The way she had always behaved.
Well, almost always.
She was so tired of behaving. Tired of smiling and being kind all the time, tired of fixing the problems people created for themselves. Tired of never doing anything just forher.
She wanted Achan—but first she wanted to crawl inside his mind to root out his secrets. Like how he had discovered the arcane magic of moonlight circles.
They emerged from the Rabbit Hole onto the trail, which was barely wide enough for them to walk side by side. With the rock walls gone and the world open around her again, the tension inside Soleil eased, and she reopened the conversation. “At the Institute, they told us moonlight was weaker than sunlight. They taught us that the old dances were foolish and ineffective.”
“Does it surprise you that they lied?”
Soleil flinched at the word. “I wouldn’t say they lied, exactly. Maybe they didn’t know.”
“It’s not hard to find the truth, if you really want to know,” he said.
She couldn’t accept his condemnation of them. She couldn’t believe that the Highwitches who taught her would have willfully concealed something so vital and beautiful. There had to be more to the story, another reason why moonlight circles were discouraged, and why covens weren’t widely allowed.
“So, your coven,” she said. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll get into trouble with the Convocation?”
He threw her a knowing grin. “Are you going to tell on me, Soleil?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I did think about turning you in, at first. But I changed my mind. Your friends—they’re nice. Except Delaney.”
“My darling Del takes some getting used to. She’s been hurt many times, so she’s built up walls. I’m sure you’ll find a way to scale them.”
“How did you find out about moonlight circles? How to perform them correctly, how to channel all that power through yourself?”
He rubbed his thumb and two fingers together. “You can find out anything you want if you have enough money. How do you think I discovered your particular affinity? How did I get the design for the mandala that protects me from your influence? All the right bribes in all the right places.”
Soleil frowned. “I didn’t think the members of the Institute and the Convocation would be so mercenary.”
But then, she hadn’t thought they would be murderers either. The memory of a brown-haired witch swam through her mind’s eye. She could see him clearly—the misery in his eyes, the cuff on his wrist—
“Convocation witches weren’t my sole source of information. But Soleil—” He stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, looking earnestly into her eyes. “That whole tree is rotten. You shouldn’t trust it.”
“But I should trustyou?”
He grinned, leaning in with wild delight in his eyes. “Hell no.”
