Imperial ((Imperial) Web of Hearts and Souls) (7 page)

He was dressed in all black, enhancing the darker tone of his well-nourished skin. His broad shoulders tensed under his tight black shirt, along with every muscle I could see exposed in his lean warrior stance.

I screamed at myself to hold the anger I had when I felt the wind around me die down.

The wrath welcomed the call, and my power grasped everything within my reach and flung it forward. Priceless vases, paintings, and furniture from across time flew through the air at him. I boldly stepped forward and focused, ensuring that my wrath hit its target.

Within that breath, everything returned to its home, the wind ceased, the lights remained on. Vade was grasping a vase—one of his favorites—that I had sent soaring at him. Holding my stare, he gently released it from his long, powerful fingers and let it rest on the table beside him.

The doors behind me slammed closed, but I was not letting this end. He may be all big and bad, able to counter my power, but he was about to see how powerful a ticked off woman could be.

Before I could blink, he’d vanished. Coward.

Wait. No. Were those his hands sliding down my waist? His breath on my neck? His firm body just behind mine? Yes. Yes, it was. Oh, he was playing
dirty.

Before I could lash back at him, his long, powerful arms surrounded me. His fiery lips brushed against my neck, sending a vibration of energy through every part of me, yet focusing squarely on the core of my vessel, the part of my body that had only belonged to him. My knees buckled, but he caught me, holding me firmly against him. All this time, and my vessel had not forgotten him. In the past, my body would always react before my mind could rationalize the response; this wasn’t the first time I’d melted in his arms. Creator help me, I didn’t want it to be the last.

I was numb. His touch, his essence was fortified with a powerful hum, one that was so deep that all you could do to fight it was sigh, and not surprisingly, that usually encouraged him to continue his pursuit.

Which was exactly what he was doing at this moment. Vibrations of his essence were wavering over me, swirling deeper and deeper, saturating my soul with his powerful presence.

But I was mad. Furious. He’d left me in the Veil. Everything I had or was had been taken from me. That’s what my mind was telling my soul right now. That was the rational side of me trying to block his sensation, what was bellowing in my thick skull. I didn’t want to feel this good in his arms, I didn’t want him to sense how much I craved him. I didn’t want him to find equal pleasure in my response. I wanted to be in pain. I wanted him in pain.

I felt the heat of his breath rise higher, and just under my ear he breathed, “My Glory…I’ve got you…let go.”

His voice filled my soul, and I felt tears that I was too stubborn ever to let fall sting my eyes.

Rage, wrath, fury—every word under the defined emotion of anger was coursing through me. Enough to make this mansion and every level of The Realm crumble. That didn’t happen. It didn’t happen because he had sealed us within his essence.

A storm raged around our bodies, and as it did I thought of my human life, my reign, our fights, the betrayal that had landed me in death. I thought of every single hour I’d spent lurking in that vast cathedral. Every moment I’d secretly yearned for Vade. I thought of all the souls I released from my line. I thought of this day. The revelations and the clear signs that stated the life I once had no longer existed.

Maybe this was what grief felt like. My chest ached; there was a heavy weight there that produced visions of my worst fears not coming to life, but existing. It was an agony I never wished to feel and craved amnesty from.

My knees gave way, and even though Vade had a firm grip on me, we slowly fell to the floor. Somehow, I turned in his arms and buried my face in his warm, broad chest. As the scent of mint and the hum of his touch filled me more and more, rage came. So much time had passed. So much agony, confusion, and fury.

Half of me wished I’d never known him, that at least if that were true then I would not have had to remember the torment of his absence. The other part was grateful I was in his arms right now. That for the first time in eons I felt something close to peace. Peace was letting this storm out. Peace was the release.

I was no fool, though. A girl obsessed with her adored. I was a sovereign, for Creator’s sake. So, in his embrace, through the raging storm I analyzed his energy. I searched for the lingering scent of another. I searched for a past fever. I searched for a reason to find hatred for him.

I found no such thing. Instead, I saw my auburn laced with emerald green eyes staring back at me. My ivory skin, my long auburn hair. I saw my image a million times over. There was no essence beyond my own within him. There was no room, I consumed his every thought.

He pulled me onto his lap, encasing me within the tangle of his powerful arms and legs. With a deep, hypnotic tone he breathed, “I would never forsake you, my Glory.”

Those foolish tears spilled from the corners of my eyes. He lifted my chin and gazed into my being, which could not find one solitary emotion to grasp.

Those eyes, the light behind them had dulled, much like the light that turned mine to a warm honey shade had, but with each pulse of our souls the light was breaking through. Diamonds were before me now, exquisite diamonds.

Ever so slowly, he leaned forward. His warm lips framed one of mine, gently teasing me, trembling ever so slightly, as if I were a forbidden fruit. I responded shyly, much like the first time he had dared to kiss me. I felt my soul throb with raw energy. His arms tightened around me as he pulled me closer to his firm chest. His will to remain gentle was losing its battle, the way that every muscle in his chest would flex and then release was telling me that. His lips teased mine softly once more, then the warmth of his tongue reached out for mine. The heat of him, along with the sensational flavor of mint, was causing my very being to beat wildly in time with my heart. I missed him. I hated that I did. That I needed him. But I did. I really did.

Life, ecstasy, that was what we were both feeling as our kiss grew deeper. Fierce one moment, then gentle the next. All the while, the storm around our bodies raged on. All the while, I let loose the caged emotions that had entrapped me in misery.

I felt his long fingertips frame my face just as his thumb dared to catch that dreadful tear that escaped my closed eyes.

He slowly let his kiss end before he dared to lose control. Gently, he pulled my head to his chest and let the hum of his essence caress my weary soul. The storm within was subsiding. He’d managed to quell my soul once more.

My power, my essence, lurks within my emotions. When it is elevated, the world responds, wicked storms are birthed, humans I’m meant to reprieve are forced to face the wrath of nature.

One of the first lessons my Creator taught me was how to control such a power. How to live with it in my soul. I dare say that was the hardest lesson to grasp, one I continue to find myself struggling with from time to time.

When Vade and I began our life together, our Creator told Vade that he had to let me release. He told Vade that I could hold in that power for eons, but at some point I would have to be held, caressed, as my power found its balance and I found my respite. The Creator knew that Vade’s essence was powerful enough to shield not only our world, but also the ones below from such a wrath.

The Creator’s blessing of our rush, the way He promised me that Vade’s energy would always give me a reprieve, made me believe that Vade and I would never fail as one.

No one beyond the Creator and Vade knew of this weakness of mine. Of the internal battle my soul often had. In the Veil, more than once I wished for this release. In fact, not long ago I asked the Reaper how powerful his energy was, if it could withstand raging emotions. I never confessed this weakness, but I think he knew. His only response was, “My power serves its purpose, as does yours and whomever your Creator entrusted with the knowledge of your gifts.”

When he said that, I almost had hope that this moment would come. That the Reaper was telling me that not only was Vade the only one in existence that could witness and withstand this, but that I would see him again. I would find my release once more.

The winds settled, the thunder lost its vibrating rumble, and the lightning ceased. Yet, Vade’s embrace grew stronger.

“You let me be. You left me there,” I said in a hoarse whisper.

“I have never once endured a harder trepidation,” he responded, gently caressing my long hair out of my face.

Anger came back to me, but I had released enough of my rage that no sound was uttered in the room around us. “Yet you endured it.”

He leaned me back slightly so his eyes would find mine. His firm jawline rippled with emotions before he spoke. “It was your safe haven. The others believed you were now a part of The Realm. If I had come for you, even in thought, they would have known that the Reaper was shielding you.”

Oh, so his line was above me? He knew if he came for me, he would be invoking war with Xavier, maybe even with all the kings?

In an instant, I was standing feet from him, glaring down to where he still rested. “Why must you always care what others think? Why must you subdue your power? You put other kings’ wishes before our rush, a rush that your absence murdered.”

In a beat of my heart, he was before me, staring down, almost painfully. “Absence is said to make the heart grow fonder. If a rush was murdered, it was done so because it was not felt within the core of both. The hearts and souls, that sacred rush belonged to, slaughtered the emotion.”

That was painful. I knew he must have forgotten me long ago, but hearing him say that our rush was not truly felt before was agony. “Mortal souls must have spoken those words, for immortals, sovereigns, never forget a bond. Therefore, there is no absence that would cause anyone to be forgotten.”

A gentle sigh escaped his lips, which I craved to feel against mine but was too stubborn to claim. Was he relieved that I agreed without a fight? Or did he read between my words and understand that I never forgot the likes of him?

“What have you done in my absence? Tell me why I sensed the scent of my line within your entry hall? Why not only that scent was there, but also the scent of one of Xavier’s line? Why were white doves present? What wars occurred on the first level of The Realm? Why are humans fighting against a race that they should not know exists?”

His eyes pored over me. “You need to be nourished.”

“Back to that argument, are we? Well, guess what? I proved you wrong. Mazing and I survived on less than you could have imagined. We could have taken more, trust me, but we held our ground. I stand before you now no weaker than before.”

He clenched his fist

, causing every muscle in his long arms to flex, the air in the room to ripple with the raw power that he was. “Your soul is feeding you. You need to be nourished.”

“What’s wrong, Vade? Are you afraid that I’m going to vanish before your eyes? That I will perish once again? If so, I see no need for you to worry. You have managed quite well in my absence, looking all the more powerful because of it, in fact.”

Before I could finish my rant, one of his arms was around me as his hand urged my chin upward, giving me no choice but to gaze into his eyes, which were inches from mine. “Obviously, your hunger is hindering your memory. Look into my eyes and tell me that I look stronger than before. Tell me that there is no agony there, no anger. Tell me that this isn’t the first time a clear breath has passed my lips from the time you left our bed until now. Tell me that the weight of the universe is not squarely placed on my shoulders; a weight that our Creator is all too happy to let me bear. Tell me that I look at peace. That holding you right now is not the most euphoric state I have ever been in.”

A crimson blush spread across my ivory skin. I knew exactly what his euphoric state looked and felt like. I didn’t see it now, but I felt the power in his words. I felt him telling me that I was his now and forevermore.

I reached for his beautiful face and pulled him to me. My lips grasped his, and as our kiss grew deeper he held me against him, allowing his hands to move across me, clearly assuring himself I was really there. Before the hum of his energy could blind my thoughts, I pulled away from his hungry touch. “He would not give you more than you can bear. Speak to me. Tell me what they have done to you. To us.”

He pulled me firmly against him, and in that moment we vanished, only to manifest outside of a pair of regal, golden doors. “You need to be fed.”

I glanced up at the angelic structure of the building and felt the vibration of bliss in the air. This was a place of worship, or something close to it.

“No, I will not invoke an emotion here. I will not return, only to fall back into habits that are clearly outdated and evil at their core.”

“Glory,” he whispered with that velvet voice of his. “We are still within the temporal realm. No emotion is needed for you to invoke, for they give such an energy freely.”

I lifted a brow as I felt the bliss of the air. Like all bliss, there was pain within the energy, sacrifice and hardship, but that didn’t matter; these souls had risen above those damaging emotions, and for this moment, they were in bliss.

“I listened to you,” he said tenderly. “I heard your raging words over and over in my thoughts. I saw the face of our Creator, the peace He wanted us to bring to the human souls, the agony we were invoking in His absence. I knew there had to be a middle ground. There had to be answers that anger was masking.”