I shift more of my weight to my uninjured leg. "You make it sound like you're the boss."
"I'm not," he replies without missing a beat. "But since I've been through training, I do know more about this than you. And we're going to be so close that everyone figured I could be the one to teach you what I know. You know, guide you into becoming queen."
Close. We're going to be close. How close?
"Who's everyone?"
"The emperors and empresses, the society … Fate." He cups my cheek and his thumb skims my cheekbone.
As my eyelashes start to flutter, I lean away from his touch. I refuse to let my body react to him that way just because we're king and queen.
"Fate?"
He reluctantly nods as his hand falls to his side. "I was told a few other things during my Eternal Reading that was just between Fate and me. Things I'm supposed to eventually tell you."
I open my mouth to ask more questions, but he places his finger against my lips.
"Let's not have this conversation here, okay?" He waits for me to nod before lifting his finger from my lips.
I silently limp across the street. He walks beside me, watching me struggle with his hands fisted at his sides. I can tell he's fighting the need to pick me up and carry me, but he thankfully doesn't, doing what I asked for maybe the first time in my life.
I just wish I could trust him. With everything that's happened, though, I don't think I can. Too much painful history hovers between us. Plus, I have a feeling he's keeping stuff from me. I need to find out what.
10
After I hop into the backseat of the SUV, I send Effie a text while Rhyland wanders off somewhere.
Me: No need to come get me. I've already been picked up.
She replies with an endless amount of questions. Unsure what I can tell her, I reply that I'll call her tomorrow and try to explain everything. I hate that I might have to lie to her. Maybe if I talk to my mom, I can get the go-ahead to tell Effie the truth. Doubtful, since everyone is making such a big deal about no one finding out I'm the queen until my powers manifest.
A few minutes later, Rhyland returns to the SUV and scoots onto the seat beside me. He rolls up a window that divides the front part of the car from the back and I feel the vehicle drive forward.
"Where are we going?" I rest back in the seat. "I'm hoping home."
"We are," he mutters quietly, rolling up his sleeve. "We need to fix your leg and get rid of the burn on your skin." Once he gets his sleeves rolled up, he reaches for my neck. When I stiffen, he freezes. "Relax, I'm just looking at the burns."
"Oh." I try to hold still as his fingertips brush along my collarbone.
His touch is surprisingly warm, like gooey blood cookies fresh from the oven, and I have the strangest compulsion to moan. I bite down on my lip, stifling the noise.
What in the dark underworld is wrong with me? Since when do I react that way toward Rhyland?
"How did he even burn me?" My eyelids lower as I sink into a content state. "Gabe, I mean."
"Like I said, he has a gift." He sketches his finger along the base of my neck, the coldness of his breath dusting along my skin. "He's what some call a Fire Vampire because he possesses the fire magic of dragons."
My eyes pop open and my breath catches in my throat, partly over what he said and partly because he's closer than I expected. Right there, leaning over me, his lips mere inches from mine.
I press back against the seat, attempting to put space between us. "I didn't realize vampires could possess dragon magic."
He wets his lips with his tongue as he studies my neck. "They can't. Not without help."
My pulse quickens the longer he stares at my neck. "I'm not sure what you mean."
He moves his fingers up to my racing pulse, and then his tongue slips out of his lips again. "It means, someone made him that way."
"Like, created him?"
"Sort of." He drags his gaze off my neck and focuses on my eyes, but keeps his fingers pressed to my pulse. "I don't know how much you know about the rebellions, but what a lot of the public doesn't know is that it's not just normal vampires trying to raid the streets and overthrow the council. The leader of the rebellion has made reconstructed vampires that are stronger with a hell of a lot of power. Magical power that's been stolen from other creatures."
I gulp down an anxious breath. "Like Gabe's fire dragon power?"
He nods. "He wasn't always like that. The first time you met him, he wasn't."