A Shade of Kiev 2(39)

I shook hands with Erik and Helina. Then I shook Kiev’s hand, withdrawing it perhaps a little too sharply. His touch felt like white-hot fire to my bare skin.

“You haven’t introduced yourself,” Kiev said, something dangerous sparking in his eyes.

“Mona,” I muttered, feeling the blood rise in my cheeks. I guessed that he was now going to go out of his way to make things as difficult for me as possible. “A… a pleasure to meet you all.”

I was relieved when we retreated to our rooms to get ready. As Rhys and I changed into our cloaks, neither of us exchanged a word. Rhys I was sure was preparing for the ritual we were about to perform.

My heart started to race again as we neared the cave on the beach. I knew that Kiev was due to be there.

But although I was sitting opposite from him across the cave the whole evening, he didn’t glance at me once. Although nobody was supposed to speak during a ritual, I caught him whispering to the redhead, Tiarni, who was sitting next to him, more than a few times.

Once the ritual was over, he walked away with her into the woods.

I realized then that I’d been so consumed with what Kiev had been doing, I had barely batted an eyelid as a human had been brutalized by a vampire barely a few feet away from me. He lay shaking on the floor, blood gushing from his neck, caught in the agony of mid-transformation. When a witch gathered up his blood in glasses and passed it round to all of us. I drank up, barely noticing.

I should be relieved Kiev’s acting as though I don’t exist now. This is the best outcome given the circumstances.

So why is it that all I feel is pain?





Chapter 24: Mona





As I woke up to pitch blackness the following morning, my eyelids felt sore from a night of silent crying. I groaned, untangling myself from Rhys’ sleeping form, and made my way over to the balcony doors. Opening them, I took deep breaths of the fresh sea air, relishing the relief it brought me.

The chill woke Rhys up.

“Come here,” he muttered.

I crawled back into bed. He drew me against his chest and intertwined our legs. Placing his wide palm over my forehead, he stroked it gently.

“What is it about this place that has you so restless?”

I was unsure how to answer.

“Is there someone here who’s causing you to be nervous?”

That last question hit far too close to home for comfort. If I paused for too long he’d know I wasn’t being truthful with him. So, instead, I reached my hands into his thick hair and pulled myself on top of him. Placing my legs either side of his waist, I kissed him full on the mouth.

It was the first time since I’d known him that I’d ever initiated a kiss.

His hands loosened at first in surprise, but then tightened around me.

“It’s nothing, all right?” I said, when I finally broke free from him. “I was just enjoying the morning air. You worry too much about me.”

And then Rhys did something I thought he’d forgotten how to do. He smiled. And though it didn’t spread fully across his mouth, it was more than I’d ever seen from Rhys in years.

“Maybe I do worry about you too much,” he whispered.



* * *



Since we had nothing urgent to do that morning, Rhys and I stayed in bed until lunchtime, at which point we dressed and went down to the dining hall.

Part of me was hoping that we wouldn’t all be eating at the same time every day. But my hopes were dashed as the table was as full as the night before—Kiev and his siblings in the same place across the table from us. It appeared to be some kind of tradition to all have lunch together.

This time, I keep my eyes to myself. Or on Rhys.

But then red flashed across the chamber. And I was a lost cause. Throughout lunch I kept stealing glances at the redhead sitting on Kiev’s lap. Sharing blood from the same glass. Her caressing his dark hair. My fingers curled just remembering how it felt to do that. And the final scorch to my already singeing burn was watching them share a kiss. I could have sworn Kiev even looked my way as he pushed his tongue between her lips.

Lunch couldn’t be over soon enough.

I was relieved when Rhys had finished eating and suggested that we go for a stroll around the island.

“I’d love that,” I said, jumping to my feet and pulling him out the door with me.

We walked through the forest and along the beach for a couple of hours. Rhys and I didn’t talk much. We mainly took in the beauty of the place. Though he didn’t let go of my hand once as we walked, and he occasionally stopped just to look at me. I asked what he was stopping for, but he didn’t answer me. We moved on only once he was satisfied by whatever he was trying to see in me.

On our way back, as we walked through the courtyard, I caught sight of Kiev sitting alone on a bench reading a book.