He reached out to touch her colorless face, his fingertips freezing at the coldness of her skin. After feeling her cheek and neck, his hand moved under the blanket. Her cold, wet skirt clung to his fingers like seaweed. It was then that realization hit him.
Seizing the moment, Riftan pounced on the fallen giant, thrusting his sword between the man's shoulder and chest. The blade pierced through flesh and muscle and embedded in the mud below.
Rhain's voice, laced with humor, broke the silence. "Don't worry. There are no ghosts living here. I am the scariest being you will find in this mansion."
Kuahel halted and looked over his shoulder. Riftan studied the man's face before slowly opening his mouth. "Darund is nowhere near the Lexos Mountains. The monsters have no reason to attack this place. Were they after the relic?"
"That's right." Draping the cloak over her shoulders, he declared, "You are now a mage of the Remdragon Knights. Hence, you must obey your commander's orders before any instruction by that Nornui riffraff."
His hand traced her waist, and Maxi hunched her shoulders. Though his touch was feather-light, she could sense the danger beneath the surface of his restraint. Blood coursed through her veins, a burning heat spreading all the way to her fingertips.
Riftan turned to look at Ursuline when he abruptly stopped. The fair-haired knight stood frozen, mouth agape, staring at the hall's doors. Following his gaze, Riftan's breath hitched at the sight of Maximilian Calypse.
Darkness veiled his vision, swaddling him in its quiet grasp, the cold ground whispered secrets of rest and oblivion into his ear, stealing away the pain, the fight, and finally, his consciousness, leaving the silent witness of the moon to bathe his fallen form in a gentle, mournful glow.
He gazed deeply into her eyes, as if searching for her soul. "While I may lack a beating heart or a soul, by whatever measures those are gauged, I've come to realize that there exists within me a space, an emptiness, that your presence alone has begun to fill. If I had the capacity for either a heart or soul, Daisy, you would be their singular obsession."
Daisy's worry for her mother weighed heavily on her, but that was only one concern among many. She was equally worried for Rhain. His instruction for her to take refuge in a basement while hunters pursued him left her with a gnawing sense of dread. Could life with a vampire ever be free from this constant, looming threat?
"But maybe," Rhain continued softly, "we should allow them—to make their own decisions. I know they could probably not fathom what they are getting into, and you feel protective and responsible, but there is no guarantee that our decision would be better." He mused. "I am torn myself. Sometimes I wonder if Daisy would be better off without me. Then I consider how far I would go to ensure her happiness, and I question whether any other man could match that devotion. Perhaps that's egotistical of me." He flashed a self-aware smile.
Alone now with Rhain, Tiberius combed his fingers through his hair, wearied by the tangled web he'd found himself in. Rhain scrutinized him, then mused, "You must truly be fond of her to be here."
A knot of self-loathing tightened in Tiberius's stomach and fear. Fear of his own feelings, of not being able to reign them in, of falling deeper into this pit of pain.
So here he was, again entangling his life with a mortal, a decision that had invariably led to heartbreak in the past. He pondered his options, weighing each choice with the precision of a jeweler inspecting a rare gem. He didn't want to impose upon her, to make her feel as if her status as a divorced woman somehow made her less deserving of respect.