“That is an understatement,” I said, opening my eyes again and taking a deep breath. “I think I will stick to planes after today.”
“Here should be a good place to give you both a moment to collect yourselves,” Jabari said beside us, and I glanced around to see that we were in an art studio of some sort. Jabari stepped closer and tapped Theseus’s chest. “I do you suggest you do not come up wearing this. You know Ulrik will make a scene about it.”
Theseus glanced down at the chlamys I’d given him that he was still wearing, then back to Jabari. “Thank you, brother.”
“I have done as I was ordered. Rhea said to bring you home but not which part of the home. Take your time,” he replied, glanced over to me. “Fortify yourself, Ms. Omeron. You are about to go up against a dragon.”
Before I could say anything, he was gone again.
“I thought he wasn’t trying to make me nervous,” I said to Theseus.
“Are you nervous?” he inquired as he undid the chlamys at his shoulder.
“Except for the cabin, I’ve never been in a vampire’s home or surrounded by so many vampires.” I could feel them all, dozens of them all around, causing the hair on the back of my neck to rise. All over my body, I was covered in goose bumps. The more I focused on it, the worse it became and my tension increased. This was insane. I hunted vampires, and now I was just strolling into one of their homes?
“I will not allow anyone to hurt you,” he whispered, cupping my face in his hands. “Take a breath.”
I inhaled and exhaled once and then a second time. It didn’t do much. “They are all waiting for us, right—”
“Did we have a fight earlier?” he asked randomly.
“What?” I thought back. “When? We didn’t fight.”
“When you crossed your arms and glared down at me like a bull for not telling you that my mother had called.”
I huffed. “I was not glaring like a bull. I was…I was just normally glaring. And it wasn’t a fight!”
“It felt like the beginnings of a fight.”
“Well, it wasn’t. It was a misunderstanding, and you cleared it up.”
“So, we have not had our first fight?” he inquired as he folded the cloth in his hands carefully. “Pity.”
“Why? Do you want to fight?”
“I hear it is a pivotal phase in the building of a relationship.”
I stared at him, the seriousness on his face and in his tone, and for some reason, I couldn’t help but giggle.
“What is amusing?”
Reaching up, I clasped the sides of his face. “You are. So amusing that I do not know if I ever want to fight with you.”
“I do not wish to fight with you, either.”
“Then what are we going to do about this pivotal phase in a relationship you brought up?”
“I assume we can only continue being as we are.”
“And how are we?”
“Completely unconventional?”
I nodded my head in approval. “I like it! Let’s keep doing that.”
He chuckled and carefully laid the cloth in his hand down on the table beside me. It was then that I refocused on the studio around me. No longer dizzy or in a panic, I could finally see clearly, and I was in heaven.
“Oh, my God.” I gasped at the masterpieces around me and let go of him to spin around in the room, my eyes glancing from one treasure to another until I got—“Oh, my God!”