I swiveled around to face him, my hands gripping the edge of the counter, but on my side of the mirror no one was there. When I faced my reflection once more, the devil was still there. The bathroom he resided in was dimmer; he brought a bit of darkness with him.
Because he was perverse, he slung an arm over my reflection’s shoulders and glanced down her shirt. “Not a bad rack, consort.” The devil was being playful. That was so, so wrong.
“Why are you here?”
He gave me a look that said, Really? “Can I not visit my future wife? She is quite lovely.” He leaned into my reflection, breathed in her smell. I suppressed a shiver at the sight and rubbed my neck where the skin chilled.
“It’s good sport, you know,” he said. “Watching you flee from the entire world. How will you die? Who will be the one to do it?”
“Amusing,” I agreed.
I heard a faint series of cracks and I glanced up at the source of the noise. A fine sheen of ice formed at the corner of the mirror. Slowly it spread.
Perhaps even stranger than the ice was that the devil’s presence should’ve chilled me more than it did.
His arm dropped from my reflection’s shoulders only to wrap around her stomach. Her eyes widened, and I couldn’t be sure if my reflection was acting independently from me.
His thumb nudged my shirt up and rubbed the skin of my midsection. I’d never considered the stomach to be a taboo area, but the way he stroked my reflection … it seemed way too intimate.
“You act as though this disgusts you, but I know you are curious,” the devil said, using his other hand to brush along my cheek. “You wonder what being with me will be like.”
“I don’t.”
“Oh really?” He pressed a kiss to my reflection’s cheek. A phantom breath brushed against my own, drawing out my gooseflesh.
The devil ran his hand down my arm. “Your body says differently.”
“I could never be with someone like you.”
A wicked smile pulled at his lips. “I assure you, you could. Logistically, it’s really quite easy.”
Thank God I could no longer blush.
He turned to my reflection. “You haven’t accepted your dark nature, but it stirs in you. I can coax it forth. I will coax it forth. Then, I think you will find you could be with no other save for me.”
If he could do what he claimed, I was so screwed.
He let go of my reflection and backed up. “The powers that be have forsaken you.”
I shuddered because no matter the lies he might spew, in this he spoke the truth.
“Just remember—they might’ve forsaken you, consort, but I haven’t.”
Those words echoed long after he disappeared.
I haven’t.
Chapter 4
I showered and padded out into the bedroom, towel wrapped around me.
I my eyes landed on the bed, where an outfit had been laid out. I paused. Black leather pants and a skintight black shirt waited for me.
Even more mortifying, someone had placed a lacey thong and bra next to the clothing. Out of curiosity I walked up and checked out the tags.
Well they’d at least got my size right.
I sighed. I was going to look like Lara Croft: Slut Slayer.
By the time I slipped on the pair of boots that rested next to the bed, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in!” I shouted.
Andre sauntered in, his hair wet from the shower he must’ve fit in between planning the next phase of our escape. The moment he caught sight of my outfit, air seemed to hiss out of him.
“I think I need another shower,” he said. “A cold one.”
Okay, not helping. It felt like my ass was eating my underwear and my pants. Guess more than my teeth wanted a bite out of something.
“Leather, Andre? Really?” I asked.
“Blame my servants,” he said, but his eyes shined with mischief. I could practically see him making a mental note to give them a raise.
Andre strode forward, and his eyes already undressing me.
My body squeaked under his gaze—though that might’ve just been the straining leather—and my skin flared up. That was all it took.
I backed up, grabbing the bedpost I bumped into. We both heard my slow heartbeat pick up. “People are after us; we have to—”
“The world can wait,” Andre said. “My soulmate has needs that I only I can satisfy.”
My hand slipped from the bedpost. Andre came up to me and cupped my face. His thumbs stroked my features. I saw his desire-laden gaze flick to the bed, and my skin brightened further.
My hands floated to his waist. Chiseled muscle rippled beneath the fabric of his shirt. “Cotton, Andre?” I said, rubbing the material. “Why do I have to wear some poor cow when you don’t?” That was real fair.
“The lady doth protest too much.” He took my wrists and moved my touch down a few inches to the supple leather of his pants. “See? Leather.”
All rational thought fled me. My hands were dangerously close to things I wanted to get familiar with. I fought with the siren rising in me. If she took over, the deed was as good as done. Which I wasn’t actually against, except that she was capable of taking away Andre’s free will.
Unaware of my thoughts, Andre leaned in and brushed a kiss across my lips. “Soulmate, I love it that I can affect you this way.”
“Mmm.” I was afraid to speak. Afraid of the glamour that would ease into my voice.
Sensing the battle within me, he pulled away. He stroked the side of my face. “I’m not afraid of her, soulmate—she’s a part of you.”
When I wrested control of my voice I said, “She’ll take things way too far.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You say that like I have a problem with it.” Andre’s fangs had descended, and he was making no attempt to mask their presence.
Heat flooded me as I processed his words, and now I struggled in earnest with the siren. My control over her was getting better with each passing day, but she was also getting stronger.
Someone shouted downstairs about company, pulling us both from the moment.
Andre prowled over to the room’s window and glanced out before coming back to me and taking my hand. “You were right, soulmate.”
“About what?”
“We need to move. Now.”