But he understood, because he had put this into place.
Their separation…one of many they’d had in their hundred years of being together, sometimes exclusive, sometimes not, sometimes just taking a breather when it got to be too much, all because of the possibility of his reality…but this separation was different.
Because of his Chosen, his reality, needing to give it a shot with her, his other half…the woman who was supposed to make him whole…but didn’t compare to the woman he loved.
It was Lissa.
I quickly put the star back into place, my breathing accelerated…blinding possessiveness tearing through me. I placed a shaky hand over my face, trying to fight down the bond jealousy that made me want to rip her to shreds, use her body as fertilizer. This wasn’t me. It wasn’t me wanting to kill her, it was the magic. I had met her before, and had only been annoyed and irritated, not murderous.
Body trembling the barest bit, I tilted my head, hooding my glowing gaze, watching Leric’s lazy attention quickly alter when Lissa glanced to us. He didn’t look her away again, only holding my hand a bit tighter, not noticeable if I hadn’t known, so I watched her. I scrutinized her covertly for three more songs, her gaze always swinging up to us, then dipping quickly, as if she belatedly realized she was staring, her expression…quietly tortured.
I tried breathing through the bond magic, and it helped…somewhat…but I was holding myself back, my other grip on the chairs cushion brutal, as my blood simmered, trying to hang on to my sanity, what I knew was right.
During the fourth song, I saw her slip from the room, her shoulders thrown back after covertly glancing at us one last time…and I knew what I had to do, but I needed to be careful, less I killed her. Leaning over the side of my chair, I spoke evenly, my brows pinched, “Leric, I think I’m going to head back to the room. I’m not feeling a hundred percent.” He instantly started to rise, and I saw he appeared relieved, the slightest unhunching of his shoulders, but I held his hand steadfast, keeping him seated. “It wouldn’t be gracious for us both to leave. You should probably stay for a little while longer.”
He sighed, but eventually nodded…after glancing to the left, and seeing Lissa was gone. “Alright.” He squeezed my hand. “But if you start feeling too poorly, let me know.”
“I will.” I wouldn’t, just as I wasn’t now. And I needed to hurry.
Leaving the room, my guards kept a close flank on me when a few tried to pull me into the party with them, but I quickly exited out a side door, then surprised all my guards by taking off in a fast jog, my white skirt billowing out behind me, bare feet quickly eating up the white tiling, hurrying around the ballroom.
“Is there an issue?” Elder Farrar asked, keeping pace with me on my right, his expression quickly hardening.
Directly behind me, Elder Bridges murmured, “I believe there’s going to be if Ms. Jules doesn’t try to calm herself.”
King Zeller grunted from farther behind.
“What’s going on?” Cain asked gruffly, navy blue eyes peering down at me directly on my left. “You reek of aggression.”
“Just stop,” I stated brusquely, bitingly. “All of you.” I turned a corner, seeing the door she must have exited from, but no Lissa, although there was a hallway directly across from it. “I am calm for what I’m feeling.” The tiger growled from deep within me as I jogged toward it, turning down the hallway. “Your comments are not helping right now.”
They went mute, silently on alert.
And I came to a dead stop two hallways later, all my guards instantly following suit, and placed my back to a wall directly before an opening…where I heard a woman quietly sobbing. I closed my eyes, my body trembling, glowing somewhat with the exhilaration of the chase, and counted to thirty in my head while my body simmered with the aching need to protect, and claim, what was mine, all the magic sizzling through my veins. Gradually, and ever so slowly, I peeked around the wall…and saw her sitting in an intimate, but open room, the only furnishing the long marble bench Lissa sat on, hunched over sobbing, with the lazy trickle of a fountain next to the bench, long rows of floor to ceiling windows before her, the setting sun over the ocean’s coastline, glimmering over her, making her all the more beautiful in her misery.
Quickly, I sucked in a harsh breath, darting my head back to my guards. Not able to look them in the eyes, I ordered gruffly on a whisper, “Don’t let me kill her.” And with that, I pivoted and moved into the room, my movements slow, and stalking, like the trained killer I was, my guards instantly following on equally silent feet, fanning out inside the room, placing their backs to the white sanded walls, dark pillars of strength and death, against the purity of this white gleaming room, Cain and Elder Farrar staying relatively close, but giving me space as I closed in on her oblivious form from behind.
I stopped, shaking my fists out, staring at the back of her head with a slightly glowing gaze. She still didn’t notice me, lost in her misery as she was. I could have slit her throat in an instant…and then, I stared down at the diamond daggers that just materialized in my hands. I could feel my Lajaks eyes on me, all studying, trying to figure out what the hell was going on while I gritted my teeth, nostrils flaring, I put them back into my treasure trove, and put my hands behind my back, gripping them firmly, brutally keeping them there, as I moved around her slowly. My eyes never left her even as I struck a casual pose, resting a shoulder against one of the windows, Cain and Elder Farrar standing a few feet on either side of me. And I continued watching her, cocking my head, evaluating her from the tips of her perfectly lush curly white hair down the tip of her perfectly manicured toes, her skin smooth and supple, her breasts lush and heaving, a shapely leg showcased from the slit of her own white, satin skirt.
Daggers appeared in my hands again with the feeling of inadequacy filling me, the woman even more beautiful close up in this lighting, but I quickly sent them back with a slow inhale, flexing my fingers behind my back, then I stated, my tone irritated and gruff, “Could you please cut off the waterworks?”
Her head flew up from her hands, misery quickly replaced by shock, then a smidge of fear as her tear-streaked face darted about, seeing everyone silently standing at the walls around her. I saw when her survival instinct took hold. She jumped to her feet, ready to bolt, outnumbered as she was, but I threw my hand out, sending a small, but potent pulse wave—a bit harshly—at her, and she grunted at the impact, her body flying back onto the bench, her back slamming against the backing of the white marble. And a small part of me smiled inside, hoping it hurt like hell, but I kept my face impassive, arm outstretched, the force still flowing from my palm, and stated in a very quiet voice, “Just sit there and keep your mouth shut unless I ask you a question before I lose my control.”
Her bold, beautiful features altered past the force holding her back, and she sneered at me. “Chosen.” Her head dipped all it could, which was more of an eye dip, a clear indication she wasn’t powerful, which I had already figured out with her power signature while studying her.