Destructive Embrace (8 page)

“You’re right. Well, come on; we need
to hike up these stairs,” I said, motioning with one hand to the
set of steps we’d reached. They were the only set of stairs that
didn’t lead to residential quarters. In fact, they led to a place
that was rarely visited, period.

None of us had ever had the heart to go
there.

I led Elyssa up the stairs,
and even with our stamina, it was becoming difficult about
two-thirds of the way up the staircase. This particular stairway
led up to the third, highest tower of the castle, one that didn't
belong to any of the brothers.

"What is this place?"
Elyssa asked, her voice quiet but still echoing off of the walls
around us. The staircase grew dark; being enclosed in a tower with
no windows would do that.
I should have
brought a light…

A shuffling sound met my
ears and I grabbed her before she could fall. I couldn't help but
grin as I held Elyssa in a loose embrace; she looked flustered at
our closeness, and her face flamed with a blush. "Sorry," I said,
still grinning. She glared a little, scowling. "I would have
thought that, as a vampire, you would have a little more balance
and better sight in the dark as well. Can we try to not trip for
the rest of the way since I forgot to bring a light up?" I asked,
chuckling.

I released the huffing girl
and took her hand. "Come on. I'll explain when we're up there."
When we emerged from the stairway onto a platform with a single
door, I released Elyssa's hand. Gently gripping the doorknob, I
twisted and gave a sharp push on the old door to get it open all
the way.

We stepped into the dusty
attic, no words shared between us, and began to look around. There
was a lot of stuff there, from weapons to paintings, to trunks and
boxes filled with who-knew-what. But the best thing about the attic
was the portrait that hung from the wall opposite the only
window.

Light streamed onto the
beautiful image of my mother, and I smiled. "Elyssa," I whispered,
turning to face her. Her eyes were still roaming the attic
excitedly, taking in everything that lay dormant in this place.
When she realized I'd called out to her, her face reddened slightly
and she looked at me, the barest hint of a smile touching her
mouth. I held my hand out and she placed her palm against mine,
barely touching my skin with hers. "Come meet our
mother."

At my words, her emerald
eyes widened and she began to look around, more urgent than before.
I knew her gaze landed on the portrait when her expression softened
and tears made her eyes glisten. "Oh," she whispered. "She's
beautiful, Dmitri." As she said the words, she squeezed my hand and
then released it, taking one step at a time as she made her way
over to the image.

We’d taken good care of it
over the years, refusing to allow the only good painting of our
mother be ruined by time. I couldn't take my eyes off Elyssa's face
as she took in the picture. As I opened my mouth to comment on her
expression, to ask what she thought of it, she turned to me, a
brilliant smile taking my breath away.

"I can see you guys in
her," she murmured, looking back at the portrait. "May I?" she
glanced at me, extending her hand. "I won't touch it, I'll just
point..." I nodded my consent and waited.

"You got the shape and look
of her eyes – not the color of course, but they're your eyes
nonetheless," she breathed, tracing the air just above the surface
of the painting as she spoke. "You can see Zeke's expression all
over her face," she laughed. "I'll bet he's very happy about
that..."

A sigh left her mouth as
she moved her fingertip to hover over my mother's mouth. "Her smile
was definitely reborn in Reid," she whispered.

I wanted to break the
suddenly heavy atmosphere by mentioning that she left out Wyatt,
but she hadn't really seen too much of him – come to think of it,
had she ever
really
seen my oldest brother? – so she wouldn't be able to see that
the strong jaw of my brother came from our mother.

I stepped up to her,
setting my hands on her shoulders tenderly. "Yes, Reid's smile is
the same as our mother's," I murmured, squeezing her shoulders
lightly. Elyssa sighed once more before looking over her shoulder
at me.

"Thank you," she said. It
was as simple as that.

I didn't know what she was
thanking me for, but I nodded anyway, smiling as I hugged her
loosely from behind. "You're welcome, Elyssa," I said, kissing her
temple.

She stiffened and removed
herself from my grasp carefully, not meeting my eyes again. I
chuckled. "So shy all of a sudden, Elyssa!" I said, winking. "One
may think you have a crush on the best-looking brother of them
all!"

I was relieved when she
scoffed and rolled her eyes; if she had taken me seriously, I might
have had a problem – I certainly didn't have feelings of that sort
for Elyssa.

"Why, Dmitri, you devil,
you! Taking advantage of your brother's mourning widow!" She held
the back of one hand to her forehead dramatically before laughing
at me. "Dumbass." We both laughed and she began to wander around
the attic, reaching out to touch random objects as she passed them.
I watched her, my eyes falling on many weapons that had been stored
up here since before our mother's death. When she passed a long
sword, I let our an excited laugh and dashed over to it. Elyssa
peered at me curiously.

"This is the kind of weapon
I trained with when I was younger," I explained, lifting the sheath
off its stand and pulling the sword out a little. Some light from
the window reflected off the blade and shone on Elyssa's face,
making her eyes glow as I stared down at her. "It's my specialty,"
I murmured, turning my face back down to look at the
blade.

Damn it
, I thought, trying to calm myself. Her face, her eyes...
There was something about Elyssa that was beginning to draw me in.
She was sincere and was interested in more than just... I shook my
head before thoughts that would put my own Mate down could take
over. Elyssa was my brother's Mate. End of story.

"Anyway, this one isn't
silver, so I can actually use it," I told her, sparing her only one
small glance. She'd wandered away while I was lost in my own head,
and was examining a pair of twin blades like her own. She lifted
the set off their stands and ran her fingers over the
sheaths.

"Are these silver?" she
asked. Her voice was barely audible as she spoke; she seemed
transfixed by the weapons in her hands. Knitting my brow, I
shrugged and walked over to her. Before I even said the words, a
cool sweat broke out across my skin. I inhaled deeply.

"One way to find out," I
said. Before she was able to stop me, I grabbed the hilt of one of
the blades and gave it a solid yank. The clanging noise echoed in
the attic as the blade came free of its sheath, but there was no
pain. I relaxed. "These are not silver. Why did you ask?" I slowly
pressed the blade back inside its sheath and tilted my head
curiously at the petite brunette before me.

She flushed. "I figured, if
you wouldn't mind, that you could teach me how to use them if they
weren't silver. Since you're already teaching me hand-to-hand
combat, I mean. Would you be alright with that?" she asked. Her
voice was so eager, eyes hopeful for the first time in
days...

How could I say
no?

I sighed silently before
smiling down at her. "I'd be happy to. We can't begin using weapons
until you know how to use the weapons you were born with, however,"
I told her sternly. She nodded and tied the sheaths around her
waist before holding her hand out toward me. Hesitantly I took it,
and we shook hands.

"It'll be a pleasure
learning how to defend myself from one as skilled as you," Elyssa
said formally, bowing her head a little. "Thank you for this
opportunity."

I laughed and she glared at
me, yanking her hand away. "No need to be so formal, Elyssa!" I
told her, still chuckling. Mussing up her hair with one hand, I
grinned. "You're family now, and we have to take care of our own,
you know." She was silent, nodding her head slowly at me. I was
glad that she understood.

"Plus, it may be fun to
knock you around a little bit," I said, dodging away from her
quickly. She growled and lunged at me, managing to get her arms
around my waist as she flew toward me. The tackle didn't hurt as
much since I was prepared for it, but it was still a good one.
"Nice job," I mumbled, prying her arms from around me and pushing
her off to the side quickly.

I didn't need to randomly
find out if I was interested in her on more than a platonic level.
She was my in-law for Christ’s sake.

Their mother was beautiful. That
thought stayed with me after seeing her image in that attic.
Especially her smile.

Reid’s
smile…

I realized that Dmitri was talking to
me and felt my face heat when his expression told me that he also
realized that I hadn’t been listening. He chuckled and shook his
head, and I grinned sheepishly.

“
You know, you have to
focus in order to learn how to fight, right?” he teased, shoving me
gently. It was enough pressure to make me stumble slightly, but I
caught myself and stuck my tongue out at him, which made his grin
grow wider. “Also, while you do have a very nice tongue, that will
not distract your opponent,” he said matter-of-factly. I took that
as my cue to stick my foot out and trip him. He stumbled for a
moment – more than I had – but caught himself and glared at
me.

“
Distracted
you
,” I sang, a self-satisfied grin
planting itself on my face.

Dmitri growled and launched himself at
me. One of his hands wound around my throat while the other hovered
over his blade’s hilt. “How easy,” he sneered. I couldn’t help but
notice that he’d dropped fang on me, and smirked up at
him.

“
Someone isn’t very
attentive,” I coughed out. I held one of my new weapons against his
back, having drawn it as he flew toward me. Pressing it against his
back, I smiled more.

Dmitri scoffed, and then nudged my arm
with his shoulder. My amateur grip on the blade loosened, and the
short sword clashed to the ground. “Like I said,” Dmitri breathed,
grinning. “How easy.”

I struggled against his grip, furious
that I hadn’t been able to do that correctly. He released me and I
retrieved my blade, grumbling. He cautiously reached a hand out to
pat my back.

“
In due time, Elyssa,” he
said. His tone was comforting, and I sighed, nodding. Dmitri slung
an arm over my shoulder in an awkward half-hug. “I know you’ll do
well when we get to training you,” he murmured to me.

As we rounded the next corner on our
way to the gardens for training, we nearly collided with someone.
Automatically, I jumped away from Dmitri; if it was Ollie, she
would assume the worst, naturally. But it wasn’t Olivia.

“
Well, don’t you two look…
Comfortable,” Annibel said. Her tone sounded forcibly cheerful and
I frowned; it sounded so fake and odd coming from sweet
Annibel.

“
We’re on our way to the
training grounds,” Dmitri told her with a shrug. The blonde
narrowed her eyes slightly, turning her gaze down to the weapons we
carried. She then smiled brightly at us.

“
Have fun then,” she
chirped, turning on her heel to leave.

“
Wait!” I blurted,
startling myself. From the look Dmitri gave me, he hadn’t expected
me to call her back, either. “W-weren’t you leaving?” I asked
breathlessly, remembering the goodbye – no, the ‘keep in touch’ –
we’d shared before Tywin had begun to attack me.

Annibel appeared confused for a moment.
“What? No,” she said slowly. I frowned, clearly recalling the
conversation.

“
Wyatt and I, it turns
out, were never Mated. It was an honest mistake, but one that has
opened up so many possibilities for my life. Keep in touch,
okay?”

“
You told
me that your Mating to Wyatt was a mistake,” I pressed, a feeling
of dread filling me – what I was dreading, I didn’t
know.
Something is off
here…

“
Oh! Yes, it was just a
misunderstanding,” she mumbled, turning to face me once more. “But
I decided to stick around; I really like it here after
all.”

I nodded slowly, letting a smile fall
onto my lips. A completely fake smile, but one Annibel should have
believed. She smiled back and gave me a short wave goodbye before
walking away.

Once she was out of earshot, Dmitri
turned to me, one eyebrow arched. “What was that about? She and
Wyatt aren’t Mated?” I shook my head, unable to speak.

Something was off. Was Annibel planning
something? Revenge on Zeke? She was acting so strange.

“
Hello?” Dmitri waved one
hand in front of my face. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“What was that about?”

I began walking, pulling him along with
me. “I just very clearly remember her telling me that she couldn’t
wait to get out of this castle,” I murmured, glancing over my
shoulder. I shrugged. “It just seemed really weird to me that she
would want to stay.”