The Dark Prince (The Dark Light Series)(156)

The door swings open, disrupting me from my thoughts, though I expect it. I heard the footprints lightly padding across the carpet. I smelled the cool freshness of his skin. I heard his heart hammering with nervous expectation as I approached. I could even taste his flavor on my tongue. He knew I’d be coming for him. He knew this moment was inevitable.

“Gabriella,” Dorian breathes, a hint of desperation in his usually smooth voice. I watch as his brilliant blue eyes take me in, a myriad of vibrant emotions displayed clearly on his face. From relief to confusion to shock to horror to fear, every one of his reactions do not go unnoticed by my skillful eyes. I know what he sees, and I know what that must mean for him. For us. But this is what I have chosen. And honestly, there was no other choice.

“Dorian,” I reply confidently with a slight nod of my head.

He swallows, my eyes studying the movements of his throat and the rapid pulsing of his jugular. He’s nervous. Even a bit afraid of me. I know because I can feel it. I can feel every one of his emotions just as he can feel mine. My ascension has brought our link full circle.

“What have you done?” he rasps, his eyes growing wide. “How? How did you… Why?”

I lick my lips, though they feel as smooth as silk under my tongue. “Let me in so I can tell you.”

Uncertainty furrows his brow and he looks away, contemplating his next move. After a beat, he steps aside, realizing that I would make my way inside no matter what he decided. His eyes stay trained on me, taking on the icy glaze reserved for hostile threats. Once I cross the threshold, I spin around, faster than even he can probably detect.

“You can relax, Dorian. I won’t attack you from behind,” I smirk, giving back the same words he spoke to me the day I found out who and what he is. “It’s not my style.”

The look of sheer disbelief mars his gorgeous face, his jaw dropping in surprise. He quickly closes it and composes himself, ushering me through to the living room with a wave of his hand. I take the liberty to make myself comfortable on the couch, totally at ease with what I am about to do. I don’t even have to think about it. I know there’s only one solution and I don’t want to waste time dancing around it.

“Sit with me,” I say, patting the cushion beside me.

With masked hesitance, Dorian complies, yet stays a good two feet away from me, his cold, calculating eyes still focused on mine, no doubt predetermining my next move. We spend long moments sizing up the other with rapt awareness. I had always known Dorian was absolutely beautiful. Yet seeing him now, being able to unveil the mask he wears for the world is really a sight to behold. He is powerful, terrifying and magnificent. It still hurts to look at him, but in a different way entirely. He’s trying to keep me out. Trying to keep up the façade to protect himself, yet he can’t deny me access. His anxiety is my anxiety. I am more powerful than he is, and effortlessly tear down the barriers that he struggles to put up to hide his true form.

“Why?” he finally whispers, giving up on trying to delay his fate.

I smile. “There was no other option. I knew what I had to do. I know what I was made for. It’s this. This is why I was created,” I say.

Dorian shakes his head and looks away, unable to stand the sight of me. “But it’s impossible. It’s not supposed to be like this.”

Before he can turn his head back, I am beside him, clutching his face between my hands. He gasps and nearly recoils at the contact.

“But don’t you see? It is supposed to be like this. This is what was meant for me all along. I am half Dark and half Light equally. Both good and evil. I was meant to rule the night and the day. And that’s what I am going to do.” I give him a reassuring smile. “It’s ok. I’m ok, Dorian. I was meant to be both. I was never supposed to choose.”

His eyes never leave mine, searching for some semblance of rationality. “But your…eyes.”

I shrug, dropping my hands from his face and grasping his hands instead. He jerks a bit at first, still growing accustomed to the prickles I give him. “Yeah, that will take some getting used to. One blue and one gold eye isn’t exactly normal, is it? It kinda scared the shit out of me.”

Dorian finally cracks the faintest of smiles. “So you’re…ok? You’re not hurt? You’re not…different?”

“Well, other than the eyes, do I look different?”

His eyes begin their study at the crown of my head, my semi-wet hair in a tangled, curly mess that oddly seems perfectly styled and intentional. He takes in the luminescent skin stretched over my high cheekbones, and my full pouty lips that part reflexively with his notice. Then his eyes are on collarbone, traveling down to where my wet shirt clings to my round, heavy breasts.