Kai came to a stop a few feet away from me. The additional light died as somebody closed the back door. I tried to tamp down my enthusiasm lest it make him change his mind.
“You came,” I said. “Guess I’ll have to rethink my plans to beat you senseless for hanging up on me.”
His eyes were such a vivid green against the festive green T-shirt he wore. They blinked warily. “I made a promise,” he said. He pointed up at the shower of snow. Some of it had fallen and settled on his criminally long lashes. I took a step towards him.
“I wouldn’t have held it against you.”
Reaching out, he pulled me against his chest. He lowered his head to my ear. “I know,” he mouthed. “Can’t have you being the bigger person, can we? I’d never hear the end of it.”
He kissed me and the snarky comeback died on my tongue. Somebody behind me cleared their throat. Kai took his time releasing me. A shriek filled the air. Cassie came barrelling out of the door and flung herself at Kai. He bent his legs as she got close and hefted her over his shoulders. She squealed and clutched his hands for dear life.
I followed them into the kitchen and through to the dining room where everyone else had gathered. Jacqueline leaned against the arched doorway. She nodded at me, her lips pulled into a smile. I stepped past thinking I would give them some space.
I was so busy slightly rearranging the ornaments on the tree to take back ownership of it from Isla that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me. Kai slid his arm around my waist, his clean, masculine scent wrapping around me. I leaned back into him, closing my eyes for a second. When I opened them, he was holding a present in front of me with his free hand. It was metallic blue with gold starts scattered on it.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“What does it look like?”
I pressed the heel of my sneakers down on the toes of his boots. He slipped his hand underneath the hem of my top to splay against my stomach. Heat burst inside my chest. “I didn’t get you anything.”
“Yes, you did. Now do me a favour and open it before either Basil or Emmanuelle walks in and threatens to skin me alive again for breathing the same air as you.”
I bit my lip to stop from laughing. As it turned out, I was a bit of a present fiend. I made short work of the wrapping paper. And the tape that held the rectangular box closed. Reaching in, my hand touched cool glass. I eased the crystal angel from the box. Its wings were cut so delicately that it picked up the light from the Fae lanterns and scattered it into a million motes against the tree. Beneath the rim was a contraption that I had never seen before.
“What does this do?” I asked.
Without a word, Kai winched his arm around me and lifted us off the floor. I almost squealed at the sudden loss of equilibrium, but I knew he would never let me fall. We hovered close to the ceiling. When I saw the empty tip of the tree, I knew right away where the angel belonged. There was no need to be concerned about the angel falling off. When I placed it atop the uppermost branch, the glass morphed and the contraption fused with the wood, locking the angel in place.
My cheeks were slightly damp when we touched down on the ground. “Thank you,” I told him.
“Ditto.”
When he kissed me, he tasted like berries and citrus. Ha! Take that, Basil. I swept my tongue over Kai’s and felt the warming tingle of kitchen magic. Now I really wanted to get my own drink. We broke apart only because there was a knock at the door.
For some reason, Kai’s shoulders stiffened. He grabbed me and pushed me behind him. What now? Max and Jacqueline appeared not a second later.
Kai was already at the door. Max stepped past me to intercept whoever it was that had arrived. I looked to Jacqueline for an explanation.
“Messenger,” she said.
“Who?”
The front door closed again. Kai appeared with an envelope in his hands. It was too big to be just a letter. “Who was there?” Jacqueline asked. She took the envelope from him.
“Guards at the gate said the letter was left by a woman,” Kai said. “Her face was covered.”
My stomach sank. When he’d passed her the envelope, I’d seen that it was addressed to me. “May I please have it?”
By now the rest of the party had gathered around us. Basil snatched the envelope before Jacqueline could hand it to me and made a sweeping gesture over it with his palm. Orange light swept over the paper. Finally, he slit the envelope open and glanced inside.
“Do you mind?” I asked.
Only then did he deign to give me the envelope. I slipped my hand inside and pulled out a letter along with several brochures. I read the letter aloud.
“Alessia Hastings. You are one of us. Come the first semester of the New Year, you will report to the soul gate at Terran Academy. Your enrolment at Bloodline Academy must be revoked. You belong to the Soul Sisterhood now.”
Son of a bitch!
I know…
That ending just wouldn’t be completed any other way without compromising the story. I tried, I really did. Thankfully, book 3, Bloodline Diplomacy is ready for pre-order now! Pre-order HERE.
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