Nadia forged down the hallway, betrayal fueling her rage and hate. Entering what she had come to think of as her room she stopped short, coming to the sudden realization she was filled to the brim with her magic. And with the return of her magic came clarity.
So, that was how it had to be — to use her magic she had to hate Elijah.
Part of her wanted to cry, but the larger part of her wouldn't allow it. She wanted to run back to him, apologize, tell him she understood why he'd done what he'd done, and what he hadn't, why he'd said the things he had, and let him hold her like he wanted to, but her feet wouldn't take her that way. That would make her weak, and she was not the Weak One.
If she had to hate him to use her magic, she would hate him. Determinedly she tried to ignore the place in her that ached when she made that resolution.
It was more important now than ever before that she leave. Staying here was stifling her, and it was slowly killing Elijah, whether he wanted to see it or not. She'd just left him blamed, beaten, burned, and bloody as a result of doing what she'd demanded and giving her what she needed, and the idiot would let her keep treating him that way because he really did lo—. She stopped the thought before it could complete itself.
She made one slight modification to her escape plan, opened a journal to the page she had marked, and began her preparations. An hour later she was ready. Nadia swallowed the potion she'd made and went to find Elijah.
When she found him, he lifted empty, tired eyes to hers, and asked, "Come to offer me your ass already?"
She straddled him and touched her forehead to his. "How did you do it?"
"I shared the pain I felt when the mages beat me and then I took it away," Elijah replied. "I never struck you. I would never hurt you like that."
"I can't do this," she whispered. "I need hate and rage. I can't give you what you want."
"You are what — "
"I know how to leave."
Elijah closed his eyes. He'd known this was coming but hadn't expected the moment to arrive so soon, and hearing her say the words made it something irrevocable. He wasn't ready. He would never be ready. He wanted to say something but didn't have the words. He opened his mouth anyway, but Nadia put a finger over his lips to silence him.
"I don't have much time, so listen to me." She laid a hand on his cheek and he opened his eyes. She steeled herself against the pain she saw there. "The answers we need aren't here. You can't dissolve the block. I can't take what you want to give me, and I can't give you what you want." Nadia took a deep breath. "But I can give you her. For tonight."
"Nadia — "
"Tonight, don't tell her about the monsters," Nadia said, swallowing hard. "She doesn't need to know about all the things that want to hunt and kill us yet. Just make her happy. She likes dancing, sunflowers, long flowing dresses, junk food and chocolate milk, candlelight, pirate movies, and sunsets. You can be everything I can't accept and let her be everything I can't give you."
"I don't want to argue with you or say..." Nadia cleared her throat. "I already took an elixir to make me sleep. It will take effect in a minute and should last for a few hours. She's the one that will wake up and you won't see me again. When I come out next time, it'll be because we're leaving. I had the incubus. Let her have the man."
He opened his mouth to say something again, but Nadia leaned forward and kissed him. It was a kiss full of everything neither of them wanted to say, everything they couldn't say, and all things that would never be, and it only ended when she collapsed against him.
"Oh, my unruly and wayward witch, don't you know? In all the stories a kiss is what's supposed wake you and start the happily ever after," Elijah whispered.
When Nadya woke she was alone. She suspected time had passed, since the last thing she remembered was Elijah trying to teach her to keep her aura under control, and her reward. Rewardus interruptus, more like.
She stretched, found she was naked and smiled. Some things would never change. A twinge of self-recrimination went through her. The fact that the incubus kept her naked should bother her. She should be ashamed of herself that she just accepted it now.
An envelope on the table with her name in bold script caught her attention and she picked it up, opening the flap to find an invitation.
"You are cordially invited downstairs for an evening of dancing and desserts. Please dress and join me."
She snorted. Dressed. That would be different. And dress in what? Her eyes landed on a garment bag that hung from the closet door. She unzipped it to find a floor length dress in dark blue. She arched an eyebrow and wondered what the incubus was up to now.
After a shower she dried her hair. A glance in the mirror showed her eyes were already done in smokey shadow and black liner. That was the work of the other woman. What had the other woman been up to this time while she'd been unaware? She hadn't given the other woman too much thought since she'd had to acknowledge she wasn't alone in her mind.
Hello?
she asked in her mind. There was no answer.
She frowned as she tried to see her silver aura and it wasn't there. Did she have to be around Elijah so she could see it? She didn't like not being able to see it now that she knew about it. It felt like an essential part of her was missing now, even though she'd only just discovered it.
She couldn't manage to zip the dress up completely on her own, so when she was as ready as she could be she went downstairs. The only shoes available were death trap stilettos that matched the dress. She carried them in one hand, sure she would kill herself trying to go down stairs in them.
Elijah waited at the bottom of the stairs. He was also fully clothed for a change, in all black.
As she approached him she turned her back and displayed her half closed zipper. The touch of Elijah's fingers on her skin sent a shiver through her. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her spine before he slid the zipper closed and spun her gently to face him.
Taking the impossibly high heels from her hand he knelt in front of her. A flash of heat flushed her skin as she remembered the last time he'd knelt in front of her.
Elijah inhaled, his eyes darkened, and a smirk settled on his lips as he scented her sudden arousal. He lifted one of her feet at a time to put her shoes on while she braced herself against his broad shoulders. Rising to his feet he gallantly offered her his arm.
She wrapped her arm in his and let him lead her through the house. He took her to a large room that had tables lining one wall but was otherwise empty of furniture. The tables were full of covered platters, and lit candles flickered among pots, vases, and bouquets of sunflowers.
"What's all this?" Nadya asked. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"Perhaps," Elijah replied. "Is it working?"
"Perhaps. Do you think at the end of this date of ours that my dress will fall off for a few cupcakes and candles?"
"I intend for your dress to fall off long before the end of this date." He twirled her onto the makeshift dance floor. "I was told there should also be dancing."
"She told you?"
Elijah nodded.
"How does she know so much about me and I don't know anything about her? I didn't even believe she was real. I thought I was going crazy."
Elijah brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. "She's more aware when you're in control than you are when she is."
"But she doesn't know what's happening to us, either?"
"No, she's been spending a lot of time trying to figure things out, but she hasn't found the answers you need yet. I told her she should start a journal so you two could communicate with each other, but I don't know if she's done that."
Nadya looked up at him. "You really do want to help us."
"I told you I want to."
"A girl's allowed to be suspicious when you start off by meeting her after you've broken in to her apartment and then kidnapped her."
"Fair enough. I'm trying to make up for that, if you'll let me."
Nadya arched an eyebrow at him. "Well, that will depend on what kind of desserts there are." She spun out of his arms and stumbled, irritably kicking off the ridiculous shoes Elijah had just put on her feet so she could walk across the room to the tables. Lifting the covers of each platter she found cookies, cupcakes, pies, tarts, and a variety of small cakes. She turned to him and pouted. "No ice cream?"
He gestured to the end of the table where a small refrigerator/freezer sat on the floor. She opened the freezer and took out the container of ice cream. She held it up and turned to him again. "I thought an incubus would be more adventurous than vanilla."
"An incubus knows it's all about what you can do with vanilla as a base."
Nadya assembled a sampling of everything and walked to Elijah, who was seated at a table for two.
"There seems to be a chair missing," she noted.
Elijah nodded solemnly. "I guess we'll have to share this one."
Nadya let herself be tugged onto his lap. His mouth was on the skin of her back even before she was fully seated. "You're not trying to distract me from my desserts, are you?"
"Absolutely not," Elijah said, trailing kisses up her spine. "Feel free to eat your fill. You'll need your energy for dancing."
When she had had a bite of every dessert, Elijah turned on some music and led her back onto their dance floor. He took her through a samba, the lambada, the kizomba, three different waltzes and ended with a tango. "Keep your arms and back straight," he instructed her as he dipped her parallel to the floor. "Trust me. I won't drop you."
He wished her dress away and moved them outside. He kept lowering her until her back hit the ground and followed her down. She gasped. He'd brought them to a hilltop that overlooked the lake and gave them an excellent view of the sun as it was setting.
He placed a trail of kisses on her skin as he moved down her body.
"How come only my clothes were lost in transit?"
