A sharp burst of appreciative laughter and cheer came from the crowd.
Kieran clenched his jaw.The echo of their applause was nothing but noise.
He strode towards the grand hall like a shadow slicing through light.Too fast.
The red carpet lay beneath his boots like a suggestion he never asked for...and as usual, he ignored it.
He did not hold Lyla’s hand. Did not wait for her to catch up. Did not bother offering her his arm.
If anything, her dainty steps behind him grated at his nerves.
Each second he had to spend in that car beside her, was like torturing his soul.
Her silence did not help either.
Even the mask he was wearing could not hide the tension in his eyes. His gaze scanned the place...not for danger, but for distraction. Anything to get him out of his own head.
That was when he felt it.
Something... other...nothing he could explain with words.
Like a hunter catching scent of a phantom that should not exist.He was not sure what made him glance upward...but his eyes found the balcony...and then he saw...a woman dressed in red.
Blood red. Fire red. Fucking war red.
His vision zoomed in on her! Everything else around him lost focus momentarily.
The balcony lighting kissed her skin like moonlight, and her mask...the same colour as his so called wife...silver...but thorned, edged with black lace. And it barely hid the curve of her cheek or the defiance in the way she tilted her chin.
One hand gripped the railing like she was bracing herself. Or maybe like she owned it.
This was when Kieran realised he was staring at Velor’s inner suite.The realization made his spine snap straight.
Velor and his harem of pretty and power hungry muses.
This was nothing but another pretty thing added to the collection.
However, this one...this one looked different somehow!
Lyla finally caught up to him, pausing at his side. She still did not speak. Barely even breathed. Her mask covered her expression, but Kieran did not need to see her face to know what she felt. Nothing!!! That was their marriage in one word.
Cold. Empty... A gift of deceit and helplessness!
"Why the hell am I staring?" Kieran tried to look away but his eyes flicked to the woman’s semi exposed chest ( cleavage if that’s the word you prefer)
Was that a wolf pendant? An emerald wolf? The damn thing shimmered in the light, right above her heart and it complimented her eyes.
He knew he was staring too hard... somehow those eyes looked... familiar! Yet alien.
She did not seem to flinch under his stare.
His breath caught which was a rare achievement...there was only one woman in the entire universe who had actually ever made that happen before. And he was there at that disgusting party because of her... and only to find her. Yet he was staring with lust in his eyes at one of Velor’s women!
And then he hated himself for it.
The day he had come to know that he was mated to a rogue, he had felt a similar kind of self loathing... that was until he met and got to know Autumn better.
He wasn’t the best mate for her... Nah! He was the worst. He treated her... like he treated everyone... and she didn’t deserve any of that. He thought he ’needed’ her ( for several reasons, one being her blood, the other there bond and a few more...we will learn about them later) . Then he started ’wanting’ her. But when he started ’breathing’ her, he never knew. Now, he was left ’gasping’ and ’ drowning’ all at once. He never thought someone’s absence would ever affect him this strong !
He never had a normal childhood. Never learnt anything except, strategies, diplomacy, politics and war. He knew Autumn had it rough as well but he thought it was only but normal... until he saw her give up what she wanted the most... her freedom... for his sake!
Why? Why did she have to do it? What had he done for her? So far, his feelings toward her revolved strongly around possession. But then... it started shifting... yet he had to push her far. He did things for her sake he never thought he would do in his sane mind... he let her become his weakness!
Yet he broke her. Yet when he did shattered her soul, he never ever did wonder that he could actually lose her... lose her for real. And it was scarier than any nightmare that haunted his childhood!
By this time the applause had died down.
Yet he still was not moving. People were watching. But his feet had rooted themselves to the floor.
"You see her?" he said in a low tone, eyes still locked on the balcony. "Red dress. Silver mask. Standing with the Bloodfangs."
His chauffeur ( his most experienced tracker whom he had brought disguised as his chauffeur) followed his gaze,with the hint of a frown. "You want me to find out who she is?"
Kieran’s jaw flexed. "No," he snapped too fast.(Then why the hell was he pointing her out! Damn this was fucked up!)
He needed a damn moment to get his head straight.
Not everything had to be hunted down the second he saw it, he reminded himself.
Behind him, Lyla shifted, perhaps sensing his agitation. She turned her pale gaze towards the balcony, eyes dull as stones. "She is really pretty," she said blandly.
He did not mean to be cruel. But the silence was preferable to her passive observation.He looked up again...but this time the woman was gone.
Kieran exhaled slowly, blinking once.
He strode right inside the castle and did not stop till he reached the inner hall. Then he marched straight towards the drink table, snatched a glass of something sharp, and downed it in one go.