He glanced around the empty meadow. Did she expect someone to be taking a late night stroll in this isolated area? “You made me ruin my boots to meet a tree?”
“Hush,” she murmured, leaning down to place the diamond in a small hollow beneath a gnarly root.
“Now what?”
She turned to offer a mysterious smile. The ice-princess at her most seductive.
“Now we wait.”
He stepped forward, trailing his fingers through the cool silk of her hair. This was a woman made for night. As distantly remote and beautiful as the moon.
Unless she was wrapped in his arms.
Then she was a shimmering, passionate creature who burned as hot as the sun.
“I’m not very good at waiting,” he informed her.
“No?” She arched a brow. “You shock me.”
His fingers stroked down the line of her throat, relishing the feel of her smooth skin. “I have a way we could pass the time.”
“You’re covered in mud,” she chided, but he didn’t miss the tiny spark of heat deep in her eyes.
He leaned down to brush his lips along the curve of her ear. “There’s a creek just over the hill,” he told her, his superior hearing able to catch the sound of shallow water as it danced over rocks. It was all too easy to imagine stripping off Nefri’s clothes so she could play mermaid. “You could wash me.”
She shivered, the rich scent of her arousal lacing the breeze. “Maybe later.”
He nipped the lobe of her ear, careful not to draw blood. His possessive fascination with the female was enough to deal with at the moment.
He wasn’t going to take the risk of mating her.
Not when she might disappear back behind the Veil.
He’d been abandoned by his sire and then again by this female just a few weeks ago. He wasn’t ready to take the risk again.
Instead he concentrated on the delectable taste of her jasmine-scented skin. “You promise?”
“We’ll see,” she teased, her voice a husky invitation.
He muttered low words of need as his lips stroked down the line of her jaw. His hands gripped her waist, but before he could yank her hard against his stirring body, a warning prickle brushed over his skin.
On instant alert, Santiago stepped back far enough to pull his sword free. The air felt charged with electricity, as if lightning was about to strike.
Not a vampire’s favorite sensation.
Being flammable had a few downsides.
When lightning didn’t strike him down, he began to lower his sword, his puzzled gaze searching the meadow. There was something near.
Something powerful.
With his senses on full alert, he didn’t miss the strange fog that began to form around the diamond. Still, he wasn’t prepared for the massive jewel to abruptly disappear at the same time the tree split in half.
“Meirda,” he muttered, staring at the black hole that hovered in the space between the two halves of the tree. “What’s that?”
“A doorway.” Nefri sent him a warning glance as she moved forward. “Stay close.”
Reluctantly he fell into step behind her. “We’re not about to tumble into some weird version of Wonderland, are we?”
She gave a soft snort. “Weird version?”
“Okay, the first version was pretty weird,” he conceded, his knuckles white as he gripped the hilt of his sword.
Like any self-respecting vampire, he detested magic. And there was no mistaking that the black hole was made by magic, not nature. But, gritting his teeth, he forced his feet to carry him forward.
Hadn’t he been the one to insist on joining Nefri? He couldn’t back down now.
Shivering as they moved through the darkness, Santiago nearly stumbled over his own feet as they stepped into what looked like a throne room in a grand palace.
Startled, his gaze skimmed over the long, highly glossed floor of inlaid wood that was framed by ivory walls inset with arched mirrors. Above his head the coved ceiling displayed an exquisite mural of Aladdin and his lamp that came to life in the blaze of light from the massive chandelier.
At the far end of the room was a gilded throne with crimson velvet padding that was set on a high dais. On each side of the dais were a matching set of ivory and gold double doors.
“Where are we?” he asked in confusion.
Nefri continued toward the throne, her air of nobility only emphasized by her elegant surroundings. Regal, a voice whispered in the back of his mind.
“It’s a small fold in dimensions,” she murmured softly.
“A fold?” He followed several steps behind Nefri, giving himself room for a full swing of his sword if they were attacked. “I’ve never heard of it.”
She slowed her steps, perhaps considering how best to explain the strange phenomenon. “You know that Laylah found the babies hidden in what she called a ‘bubble’?”
“I’ve heard the stories.”
She waved a slender hand. “This is basically the same, only on a larger scale.”
He frowned as he glanced around the room, realizing the opening had closed behind them.
Trapped.
A very elegant sally port.
He shuddered, far from happy by the knowledge he had no easy exit.