Читать книгу The Summoner - Alisha Steele - Страница 6

Chapter 3

Kasdeya rested his forehead against the glass separating his world from hers. The muscles of his shoulders slowly unknotted as the Summoner woke.

“Oh God,” Alexandra groaned, clutching her head and levering herself onto her elbows. The early morning sun poured cheery streamers of light into the bathroom’s yellow and pink windows.

“Awake at last, pet? I had begun to worry.”

Begun to worry? He’d been half out of his mind with concern, watching anxiously over her motionless body as the hours ticked away. And, despite what he told himself, his concern was more than that of a captive for his freedom. The sight of her slight, still form spread across the sterile white floor had filled him with fear. She’d seemed so delicate. So fragile. So in need of someone strong to take care of her.

Kasdeya gave his head a sharp shake at his turn of thought. She may indeed need taking care of, but that wasn’t his job. At any rate, she seemed fine now. He eyed her coltish legs as she gathered them beneath her and stood swaying dizzily from side to side. Yes, she was very fine.

Alexandra cleared her throat several times. “What the hell are you doing in the mirror? It’s daylight out.”

Kasdeya leaned casually against the barrier that separated their planes. “We have a deeper connection now that you have summoned me once.”

Indeed they did, and their timelines seemed to have synced; every minute he’d watched her, so pale and motionless, had passed with the same excruciating slowness in both worlds. A natural side-effect of her power, he assumed. How convenient. He’d be able to monitor her continuously from now on, which would give him ample time to wear her down.

Not to mention that it would have distressed him to see her age past the beauty she currently possessed in just a matter of hours and to weaken and die in a few days. Yes, it would have distressed him greatly. But perhaps “distress” wasn’t the right word. The thought of her infinitesimal mortal life and its inevitable end made his heart race with an emotion he was unfamiliar with and so could not name. However, it mattered not. He would never have to witness such an event.

Kasdeya pushed the strange thoughts he was struggling with aside and concentrated on his goal. If Alexandra would just call him into her own plane, he could ravish her to within an inch of her life—not because it would be necessary at that point, having already won his freedom, but because he really wanted to. And then he would be on his merry way. One thousand years on Earth was a much more satisfying prospect than one thousand years in this depressing gray limbo and, with luck, the Prince would never know the difference.

* * * *

His smile was indolent as he traced a figure on the glass—a figure that corresponded to her own body’s curves. Alex sucked in a surprised breath at the feathery feel of his spirit hand gliding along the side of her breast.

“Summon me but once more, Alexandra, and I’ll make you gasp in earnest.”

Alex backed away until the door handle declared its presence to her right hip. She fumbled for the knob behind her. “Oh, I don’t think so, dark man. What kind of person would I be if I let loose a demon into the world?” Why wouldn’t the damn door open? She glanced down to twist the key that had somehow managed to turn itself in the old-fashioned lock.

“We prefer the name ‘Fallen.’”

She finally tugged the door open. “Yeah, well, a thorn by any other name…”

Alex beat a hasty retreat.