Page 38 of Crimson Mate

“The Ashcroft family home in Edgemont is a historical landmark,” Alek cuts over me, laughing sharply. “There are humans crawling all over that every day.”

“And night,” I amend. “The last time I checked, ghost tours are a profitable business.”

“I didn't have it on the list of sites,” Alek explains. “I didn't think the artifact would be kept there, so I doubted Conrad would head that direction. But now that we know...catching him is still of the utmost importance,” he says. “But keeping these herbs and ashes and blood away from him is also a priority.”

“Understood,” I say, pushing back from his desk to stand. “I'll head that way now.”

“Talia?” I make it to the door before Alek calls my name.

I pause and glance over my shoulder at him.

“Don't go alone,” he says with no room for argument in his tone.

“Of course not, your majesty,” I say, then head out the door.

I can grab any rookie assassin, or even ask Jocelyn or Lyric or Cassandra to go with me.

But even as those options present themselves, there’s absolutely only one person my heart is calling out for.

I'm half tempted to reach internally and see if that connection between us is strong enough to be felt through separation, but I'm too scared to touch it. Too scared to acknowledge what I feel brewing deep in the recesses of my soul.

Instead, I go the traditional route, easily finding Zachariah in the library.

“Want to go on a mission?” I ask by way of greeting.

“Shall I wend us there or would you like to do it?” he answers, closing the tome he'd be studying and crossing the distance between us.

His lack of hesitation flares through me, and I wrap my arms around his waist. “Let me do it this time,” I say. “I have a clearer picture of where we're going.”

He returns my embrace, and I draw my power, sliding it around us and wending us across the city, feeling the weight of him as we move, all his powers dragging us down in a way that almost makes me dizzy.

And I can’t deny how endearing it is, that someone as powerful as him has no qualms bending to my every whim.

CHAPTER 13

Zachariah

Talia’s family home looks almost identical to how it looked centuries ago when I first met her.

Bathed in silvery moonlight, the air tinged with a chill that only comes with November in Edgemont, it looks every bit the supposedly haunted estate the Historical Society is presenting it to be.

I walk on Talia’s right, the two of us staying at the back of the small crowd of twenty or so humans who are being led by a guide up the long gravel driveway.

The formal Italian gardens have half gone to sleep thanks to autumn's chill, but there are still a few rose bushes and winter flowers blooming in the dark. My chest tightens, a prick of nostalgia twisting there as I remember a wrought iron bench and long conversations with Talia dressed in elegant gowns as we’d end our evenings there and talk until dawn threatened to break the sky.

“As you can see, this beautifully and elegantly built home belonged to the famous benefactors, one of the founding families of Edgemont, the Ashcrofts,” the guide says as he leads us up the drive and beneath the sandstone pillared archway to the main entrance of the home.

I lean down slightly to whisper in Talia’s ear as the guide continues explaining history that I've known for far longer than he has. “This was the site of our first kiss,” I say, motioning to the pillar on the left. I reach down, pulling her wrist to my lips and planting a kiss there, relishing Talia’s soft smile as we follow the group inside.

“I remember how terrified I was of you the first time I met you,” she whispers back as the guide pauses the group in the grand entryway, the ancient and slightly sweet smell of a home well preserved over the centuries swarming us.

I furrow my brow. “Did I do something to make you fear me?”

Talia shakes her head. “I was more afraid of the stories my father told me about you. The legend surrounding your hunter status.” She chuckles softly. “And you were just a young thing back then, with barely even half the arsenal you have now. That was intimidating enough, let alone the fact that my father had chosen you for me, and fate agreed. It was a lot to take in.”

The guide presses on, leading us to the right where the formal sitting room waits.

“I won your heart on my own,” I say. “And you stole mine the second you opened your mouth. Fate and your father had nothing to do with those two things.”