somehow missing the man’s jaw by inches. Before he could swing again, the thief brought the heavy butt of the knife down on Azriel’s head and he crumpled to the ground.
Spurred by fear, I dug my heels down hard, prepared to flee. The man reached out for me a second before I could turn to run. His rough hand clamped around my wrist like a vise, and he hauled me against him. Foul breath, reeking of liquor, washed over my face as he leered. When I tried to pull away, his other arm wrapped tight around my waist, squeezing my ribs so tight I struggled to take a deep breath, let alone scream for help.
The gray hour of twilight melted away, as if swallowed by beautiful night. I felt an exhilarating rush as shadows chased across my flesh, releasing me from the prison of my corporeal form. I dodged to one side, my movement so fast I doubted he even noticed. He reached out, wrapping his arms around nothing but air. “What the hell?” he said before whipping around. “You’re a tricky one, but it don’t bother me none. When I get my hands on you, you’ll regret playin’ with me!”
Azriel lay unconscious on the pier, but he had been right: under the cover of night, I was beyond harm’s reach. No matter how confident this filthy man was that he could overpower me, his hands would never make purchase. After all, who could possibly hold on to shadow? Azriel needed my help—he’d yet to regain consciousness—and my heartbeat pulsed in my ears as I prayed for him to wake.
I stepped from the surrounding dark and regained my solid form. I was fast—as fast as a gale-force wind— and spun to the side of our attacker, my long skirt flaring out around me as I melted into the night and reappeared at his back. “You are a vile man,” I spat before shoving at his massive back. He flew forward several feet and crashed into a stack of crates near the end of the pier. For a moment, I’d thought he’d lost consciousness, but he was only stunned. My strength astounded me; I’d overpowered him with as much effort as it took to move a feather. I swept toward him as nothing more than a dark cloud as he gained his bearings and barreled toward the spot where Azriel lay. I couldn’t risk him being hurt worse than he already was, and so I grabbed the man by the collar, spinning him around so fast that his head jerked wildly on his shoulders. I hiked up the hem of my dress and gave him a sound kick to the back of his knee. I heard the bone crack and he fell to the pier, his good knee breaking his fall.
“You would have killed us if you’d had the chance,” I murmured more to myself than to him. I pondered my unimaginable strength and wondered how Azriel had managed to let himself be bested. “He could have easily broken your neck,” I whispered. “
“No!” he whimpered. “Pleeease.”
“Do it.” I stiffened at the sound of Azriel’s voice behind me. When had he regained consciousness? The man continued to blubber at my feet. I looked through the dark at his pathetic face, the tears that streaked down his cheeks to drip from his chin. Azriel’s fingers caressed my scalp before they threaded through my hair, and his warm breath caressed my neck. “If you don’t, he’ll victimize some other poor soul.”
My hands shook with fear as well as exhilaration and my teeth all but ground to dust as I clenched my jaw. Azriel was probably right, but I refused to take a life, no matter what had happened. “No,” I said. “I won’t kill him.” The man sobbed in relief and scurried to stand on his one good leg. He dared not turn his back to us as he hobbled away, his arms outstretched as if he meant us no harm. But he had. He’d meant to do us harm, and I had protected myself with no help from anyone. In fact . . . Azriel’s portrayal as a helpless victim seemed too convenient considering how easily I’d managed our attacker.
Azriel sighed, clearly disappointed. “For a moment, I thought you would actually do it. Alas, you showed the fool mercy.”
I turned, and before I could stop myself, slapped Azriel with all the strength I could muster. He grunted, not exactly in pain, but I hoped that I had at least caught him off guard. “You are stronger, faster than him! There’s no possible way he could have overpowered you. You let me believe you were unconscious when you could have stopped him at any time. . . .” the words died in my mouth, too angry and hurt to form coherent words. “You are no—”
“Ah, but I told you last night; I am no gentleman,” Azriel said, interrupting my tirade. “Besides, you obviously didn’t need me for protection.”
My body hummed with pent-up energy. Or was it anger? Both, more than likely. I tried to slow my breathing, but my chest burned with the effort. “This was a test?”
“Call it . . . a demonstration.”
My voice quavered with each word. “It was a cruel thing for you to do.”
“No.” Azriel’s tone became serious. He gripped my shoulders and locked his gaze with mine. “I promised to never treat you with cruelty. This was a lesson, Darian. One you had to learn. You are no longer a weak, susceptible human. You are Shaede, deadly and cunning. Never bow to that mortal weakness again.”
I had defended myself. I could have easily killed that man. Azriel was right. I was no longer human. No longer frail or weak or incapable of protecting myself. I was something more. Something powerful.
Shaede.
Chapter 6
We traveled back to the hotel under the cover of darkness. Nothing more than a whisper, our shadows twined and sped as the wind down the cobbled streets. I tried to hold on to my anger at Azriel for the games he’d played, but how could I when his very presence dazzled me so? After all, he’d kept to his word. He hadn’t treated me with cruelty, no matter what I’d thought at the moment. My new existence was a far cry from my human life, and he was teaching me the only way he knew how.
My mind swirled with innumerable thoughts, too many for me to give voice to any of them. Instead, I left Azriel in the main room of our suite and took my leave of him in favor of a bath. With no fear of the dark and vision just as sharp in the night as in the day, I didn’t bother to illuminate the room with anything but a single candle. Its warm glow cast beautiful shadows which danced in time with the flickering flame. And I sat, enthralled for a moment before I turned my gaze to the wide, deep bathtub. As I watched the water pour into the porcelain tub, I was reminded of the night I’d thought of ending my life. Henry had done one single thing right in our five years of marriage: he’d saved me from death so that Azriel could give me new life.
I passed my hand beneath the running water, realizing that the temperature felt so much cooler than it should. I turned the cold water knob tighter and tighter until it shut off entirely. While the water was still steaming, I stripped bare and dipped a tentative toe in what should have been scalding water. But rather than burn me, the water felt deliciously warm to my new, preternatural skin.
With a deep sigh, I sank chin-deep into the tub. How people survived before the invention of the water heater, I would never know. The warmth of the water soothed me, mingled with the shadows dancing across my skin. So engrossed in my own thoughts, and the new sensations I was still getting used to, I didn’t pay much attention when I heard the door open. The sound was little more than a sigh, and I could not be bothered to notice as I rested my neck on the high back of the claw-foot tub to let my head loll back.
Azriel’s fingers ghosted across my skin, tracing a line from my collar bone across my shoulder. My head jerked to attention, and a sudden heat flushed my body. But whether from shock or something more erotic, I did not know. I sank deeper into the water in an attempt at modesty.
“Shhh,” Azriel’s warm breath blew close to my ear. “Just relax, Darian, and let me admire you.”
“One admires with their eyes, no?” I tried to hide the nervous tremor in my voice. Pleasant chills followed the path of his fingers, so light against my skin. My breath halted in my lungs as I wondered if he could hear the frantic rhythm of my heart.
“Oh, no,” Azriel said, laying his mouth to the pulse-point beneath my ear. “I would admire you with more than just my eyes.” His tongue darted out and traced from my earlobe to the tip of my ear. “And I would
My lips parted in surprise, and his warm laughter in my ear caused chills to ripple from my head right down to my toes. “Darling,” he whispered. “You’re blushing.”
I tried to form a coherent thought as he placed tiny, languid kisses up and down my neck. “Sit up,” he said against my skin, “and let me wash you.”
If our behavior was sinful, I didn’t care. I only knew that I felt a rightness in the moment, and I did as he
