Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (69 page)

“No, Xavier, d
on’t say that,” I say
, closing my eyes.

“Say my name again,” he
demands
, softly. “I will live in the sound of it.”

My eyes fly
open again.
“You can’t kiss me,” I say
instead
with a shaky voice
. “You can never kiss me again.”

Xavier’s lips twist
in a lazy smile.
“I will ki
ss y
ou again
and you wi
ll kiss me in return
,” he
replies
,
like a promise.

“I have an
aspire
,” I retort
, upset by his blasé attitude.

Losi
ng some of his smile, he replies
,
“You don’
t even know what that means.
The only reason you’re with him
is because
you had lost my aegis.
I’
m back now—
you don’t need him.”

“You
don’t know what I need,” I retort
accusingly, as anger
,
coming from deep inside of me
,
burst
s
to the surface. “You
deserted
me!” I say
between my teeth
,
feeling a
bet
rayal so deep, that I hardly kno
w where it originated
.

Xavier’s face turns
grim before he
engulfs
me in his arms, picking me up off my fe
et and holding me to him
. “I tr
ied my hardest to s
tay,” he says in a ragged voice before
his lips brush
tenderly over my hair.

As my cheek rests against his shoulder, I whisper
, “Now, you have to try your hardest to let me go.”

He stiffens
, holding me tighter. “I have no intention of letting you go
, not now, not ever
, so y
ou’ll have to
eventually
forgive me.
”

I have
to hush my urge to cry. “I’ll f
orgive you if you promise not to challenge Reed
.”

“Your ter
ms are unacceptable,” he replies
in a gruff tone. “I’ll have to live without your
forgiveness
because I’m unwilling to
live witho
ut you. I need
your smile,
you
r
kisses, your love—
”

“You sound just like Brennus:
I, me, mine…” I
say
slowly. “You barely know me any
more
.”

“I’
m nothing like him,” Xavier says
, nuzzling my neck. “He’s dead…I’m very much alive.”

“You’re both
overly affectionate,” I add,
trying to pull away from him.

Puttin
g me back on my feet, he reaches
down
and tips my chin up so that I’ll look at him. His blond hair fa
l
l
s
over his b
row
when
he looks down at me. “I’ve been gone for two
long
years
, yes, but
…we’ve sailed through thousands of years together
—
far beyond lifetimes
. I used
to
know all of your secrets. I will again,” he says
earnestly.

“Then know this secret, Xavier:
I love Reed. I will p
rotect him with my life,” I say
plainly. “If you challenge him, you challenge me.”

Xavier’s eyes narrow
to slits as he says
through clenched teeth, “AHHH, Evie! Don’t say that! Let him go!”

“I can’t
,
” I reply
, shaking my head.
“I couldn’t turn back the tide of feelings that I have for him, even if I wanted to.”

“He was never meant to
be a part of this,” Xavier says,
stabbing his finger at me in anger.

“I’m not about to apologize to you for pulling him in
,” I say, watching Xavier’s posture beco
me rigid. “
I wouldn’t even be here right now if it weren’t for him.”

“I won’t lose you,” he warns
softly.

“I don’t know ho
w you can prevent it,” I reply,
looking down at my feet so I don’t have to see the pain in his eyes.

“
There are a thousand ways to get
you
back. I just need one,” he says
, lifting my chin again so that I’
ll
look at him.

Seeing the fire
of determination
in his eyes, I take
a step back from him.
“What are you going to
do?” I ask
suspiciously
.

His fa
ce goes
blank, revealing little
.
“
For the answer to that, you’
ll have to learn my secrets.”
His eyes
gi
ve no reverence to my concerns.
“There was a time when I knew your every action before you made it. If yo
u
want to stay ahead of me, you’
ll have to learn mine.”

I turn my back on him and walk
to the
balcony. My eyes ri
se
to the broken skylights in the ceiling.
Sighing heavily, I say
, “
I won’t let you ruin what I have with Reed.”

“And, I won’t let you r
uin what we had,” he counters while his arms grip
the balcony on either side of me.
The heat from his body radiates to me to be subsumed by mine. Xavier leans near my ear to whisper, “You ha
ve filled the void that I left in you with false love…I’ve returned to reclaim my territory within your heart.”

“False
love! Are you serious?” I ask
, responding to his provocative words.
I have
to turn toward him to see his face.

“Yes,” he replies
.

My eyebrows lower in a scowl as I say
, “I don
’t even know what to say to you. O
h
, wait. Yes I do. Y
ou’re delusional.”

I put my hand on his chest to p
ush him back from me. He covers
my h
and with his,
bringin
g it to his lips. When he kisses it, some sort of déjà vu leaks
into my consciousness. Goose
bumps, beginning at my wrist and travel
in
g down the length of me, mingle
with the intense
,
mental image of Xavier kissin
g me passionately beneath a t
ree in a place I’ve never been,
at least, not recently.
I blink
as the
hazy memory
falls away
, leaving me stari
ng up at Xavier. My eyes scan his face as I think
…
it was definitely him—
hi
s mismatched eyes smiling at me…

“Evie,” Xavier says in a gentle voice as he turns
my hand over
in his and kisses my open palm.

In the next second, panic ma
k
e
s
the color drain from my face.
I know him
, I think
.
I REALLY
know him.

Xavi
er stills as he studies
me
. Then, his eyes widen perceptively as his head tilts
to one
side. “Evie
, w
hat is it
?” he ask
s
.

“Huh
?
” I manage
to say.
I try
to pull my hand back fro
m him. “It’
s nothing.” I look
away evasively.

“Not nothing,” he replies
thoughtfully
, holding my hand t
ighter
.

“Let go, Xavier,” I order
in a salty tone
, trying to hide my panic, but my heart feels like it’s going to pound out of my chest.

“Not until you tell me what just happened,”
he replies
. “You…were staring at me with the sweetest expression for a
second there…just
as if
…” He freez
e
s
.
I attempt to pull
my hand back again, while I bit
e
my lower lip.
“You remember
something!
” he says
with a mixt
ure of accusation and elation.

“No,” I s
ay weakly, then add
, “I don’t know…”

“What? Wha
t do
you remember?” he asks
.

“
Let go of me
,” I insist
. “I can’t think.”

Those a
re the magic words that ga
in
my release. Xavier, looking
upon me with an
expectant air
, sparks
a tumult of
vague
images in
my mind:
Xavier holding my hand, Xavier laughing, Xavier walking by my side, Xavier kissing me..
.
Suddenly, the air i
s becoming too thin to breathe. In
stead of answering him, I turn
toward the
open platform of the
balcony and
I
bolt
. Leaping into the
air, my wings spread out as I di
ve toward
s
the floor far below.

“Evie!
” Xavier
calls out behind me, but I ignore
him.

When my feet touch the ground I do
n’t hesitate
, but I ru
n full-out
for the door.
Hearing Xavier behind me, I use
a spell to quickly clos
e the doors to the tower as I ru
n past th
em, locking him inside. I pause
just beyond them
to glance
down the
adjoining
corridors
and find them
empty.
My heart
pounds
harder in my chest and
I jump
when
Xavier
rea
ches the doors and
beat
s
against them. The doors strain
against the jamb and e
ven with magic, they won’t hold long
. I pivot on my heels and I
sprint
with supernatural speed in the direction of the South Tower.

Ccc
rac
kk
k
, the
wood
splinters as Xavier mak
e
s
it into the corridor as
I
roun
d
the corner. Behind me
his angry
voice echoes
off the stone
walls
, “EVIE, STOP!”

I ru
n faster, feeling hunted.
Ducking into a room halfway down the corridor leading to the South Tower, I rea
liz
e it’
s the room
I used for
combat training
with my Gancanagh bodyguards. Molly an
d I had dubbed it the
“
War Room,
”
even though at one time i
t had clearly been a music room
.

High ceilings with intricately c
ut molding, i
nterspersed with exquisite,
stone ro
undels, surround
the room with a stately grace. Soft mats, an addition to the room when I began trai
ning here, still cover the dark
wooden flo
ors. But, beyond them, there is
little else in the room to hide behind except for a large piano in the corner.