Page 3 of Blood Currents
And he didn’t disappoint.
Elio reeled me in with practiced charm, pulling my coat off and settling me astride his thighs.His hands slid beneath my skirt, trailing his fingertips along my thighs to my apex, and each touch sent heat flaring through me, fast and greedy.
I threw my arms around his neck, our mouths crashing together like we were starving.But even as I melted into his kiss, the doubts crept in like cold air.
“You’re thinking again, darling,” Elio murmured, his voice rougher than usual, like he couldn’t quite keep the need out of it.His hands stilled on my thighs, and when I looked into his ice-blue eyes, I saw something that might have been concern.Real concern, not the polished performance he showed everyone else.
That should have reassured me.Should have quieted the voice in my head whispering that this was all too familiar—the secret meetings, the careful distance in public.
But it didn’t.
“Hard not to,” I said, trying to keep my voice light.“This feels like something I’ve done before.”
“Darl…” His sculpted jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.“This isn’t the same as what you had with Keane.”
“I know,” I replied, looking away, “but it feels the same.”
“Does it?”Elio’s hands moved to frame my face, his thumbs stroking across my cheekbones.He studied me for a minute, and then he nodded.“Because you’re still here, in another hidden place, with another heir who can’t acknowledge you publicly.”
The honesty of it stole my breath.He wasn’t trying to convince me I was wrong.
“But you’re different,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.“You showed me your music.Your real self.You’re standing with me.”
“But it’s still a secret,” he said gently, and his illusions flickered.For a second, the cracks in his armor showed.Without the glamour, he looked softer.Less like the wicked prince everyone feared and more like the guy behind the mask.My guy, maybe…
“Still hidden,” he continued.“I still can’t—”
“I know,” I conceded.“And I don’t know what that means.For us.”
He was quiet for a moment and then: “No one else has seen beneath the masks before.Not really.”
That should have meant everything.Should have quieted all my doubts.And part of me—the part that remembered how cruel he used to be, how he’d changed—wanted to believe it did mean everything.Even the old sting of him once calling me half-breed felt like it belonged to another life, softened now by the way he looked at me.
But another part of me, the part that had fooled around with too many rich pretty boys, whispered that intentions didn’t always matter.That this couldn’t be real.
“I know,” I said again, softer this time.“And that… that means something.It does.I just…” I gestured helplessly around the greenhouse.“I’m scared this is all we’ll ever have.Hidden moments.Secret touches.You being real with me only when we’re alone.”
“It’s not just conforming to expectations, Mari.It’s survival.”His voice carried an edge of desperation.“You saw what they did to Keane when his uncle decided he was a problem.If the whole council is corrupt—”
“I get it.”And I did.That was the terrible thing.I understood exactly why he felt trapped.“I just don’t know how to exist in that space.Being real enough to matter but hidden enough to be safe.”
The silence stretched between us, heavy with everything we couldn’t figure out how to navigate.
“Neither do I,” he admitted finally.“But I want to try.If you’ll let me.”
Before I could answer, a siren pierced the air.
Not a bell.Not a ward.A siren.
It ripped through the greenhouse, shaking the very walls, and my magic snapped to attention like a hunting dog catching a scent.
“What the hell…” I gasped, sliding to the side on the bench.
Elio was already moving, getting his coat, his face pale.“Emergency assembly.That’s the only time they use that alarm.”
“Emergency?”My blood chilled.“What kind of emergency?”
“I don’t know,” he said.“But it can’t be good.”
