P.C. Cast - Tempted

“I’m sorry I called you jealous and possessive.” I sniffled and blew my nose.

He grinned. “I am, kinda. But I always know what me and you have is special.” He jerked his chin in the direction Stark had gone. “Your Warrior boyfriend doesn’t have my confidence.”

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t have as much Zoey experience as you do.”

His grin widened. “No one does, babe!”

I sighed and stepped into his arms, hugging him hard. “You’re like home to me, Heath.”

“That’s what I’ll always be, Zo.” He pulled back and kissed me softly. “Okay, I’m gonna let you be alone ’cause you still got some snot and tears going on. And while you clean up, how about I track down Stark, tell him that he’s a jealous dork, maybe even punch him.”

“Punch him?”

Heath shrugged. “A good punch makes guys feel better.”

“Uh, not if they’re receiving instead of giving,” I said.

“Fine. Then I’ll go find someone else for him to punch.” He waggled his brows at me. “’Cause you obviously don’t want my pretty face messed up.”

“If you find him, would you bring him to Aphrodite’s room?”

“That’s what I planned on,” he said. Then he ruffled my hair. “I love ya, Zo.”

“I love you, too, but I really hate it when you mess up my hair,” I said.

He grinned over his shoulder at me, winked, and then went after Stark.

I was actually feeling a little better. I sat on the bench, blew my nose again, wiped my eyes, and stared off into the distance. Then I realized what I was staring at and where I was sitting.

It was the bench from one of my first Kalona dreams. It was built up on a mound so that from there I could look over the top of the huge wall that circled the island and see, off in the distance, the illuminated St. Mark’s Square looking like a magical wonderland in the wintry night. At my back was San Clemente Palace, all lit up and glistening. Around the palace to my right was the ancient cathedral turned High Council Chamber. All this beauty—all this power and majesty around me and I’d been too self-absorbed to see any of it.

Maybe I’d become too self-absorbed to see Kalona, either.

I knew what Aphrodite would say. She’d say I was making the bad vision come true. Maybe she was right.

I lifted my head and stared up at the night sky, trying to see though the layers of clouds and concealment to the moon. And then I prayed.

“Nyx, I need you. I think I’m lost. Please help me. Please show me something that will make things clearer to me. I don’t want to mess up… again…”

Heath

Heath wondered if Zo knew she was breaking his heart. Not that he wanted to be away from her. He didn’t. Actually, he wanted more of her. The problem was he also wanted what was best for her—he always had. Ever since grade school. He remembered the day he fell in love with her. Her mom had freaked out on her and had taken her to some girlfriend who worked at one of those girl beauty shops. They’d decided—Zo’s mom and her girlfriend—that it would be cute to chop off all of Zo’s long, dark hair. So the next day she’d showed up for third grade with hair that was super-short and kinda weirdly sticking out all over and fuzzy looking.

The kids had all been whispering and laughing at her. Her big brown eyes had been huge and scared, and Heath had thought he’d never seen anyone who was so beautiful. He’d told her he liked her hair—in front of the whole cafeteria at lunch. She’d looked like she was going to cry, so he’d carried her tray for her, and sat with her, even though it wasn’t cool to sit with a girl. That day she’d done something to his heart. She’d been doing something to it ever since.

So, here he was, going to find a guy who had a piece of her heart because it was what was best for Zoey. Heath ran his hand through his hair. All of this would be over someday. Someday Zo would go back to Tulsa, and even though the House of Night would take up a bunch of her time, she’d be with him when she could. They’d go to the movies again. She’d come watch him play football at OU. It would be normal again, or as normal as it could be.

He could hang in till then. When this crap with Kalona got straight—and Zo would get it straightened out, Heath was sure of it—when this crap was fixed, things would be better. He’d have his Zo back. Or at least as much of her as she could give him. And that would be enough.

Heath followed the path that led away from the palace, still going in the general direction Stark had taken. He looked around and couldn’t see much except the big stone wall on his left, and a parklike area filled with hedges that were almost as high as his head, on his right. He studied the park as he walked, realizing the hedges created some kind of circular, interwoven pattern. He decided it must be one of those old mazes—a labyrinth, he finally remembered from the Greek mythology story about the Minotaur on the island of some rich king, whose name there was no way he could remember.

Damn, he hadn’t realized how dark it was until he’d gotten away from the lights of the palace. It was quiet out here, too. So quiet he could hear the lapping of the waves just on the other side of the wall. Heath wondered if he should yell out for Stark, but decided, nah, like Zo, he didn’t mind a little time to himself.

All this vamp stuff was a lot to take in, and it was normal that he needed time to process. Not that he couldn’t deal with Stark and the other vamps. Hell, he kinda liked some of the vamps—and fledglings, too. If it came right down to it, he actually thought Stark was an okay guy. It was just Kalona who was fucking things up.

Then, as if his thoughts had drawn the immortal to him, Heath heard Kalona’s voice drifting through the empty night, and he slowed down, careful not to crunch any loose stones on the path.

“It goes exactly as planned,” Kalona was saying.

“I hate the subterfuge! I cannot bear that you pretend to be something you are not for her.”

Heath recognized Neferet’s voice and he inched forward. Keeping to the deepest of the shadows, he hugged the wall, being absolutely silent. The voices were coming from the park area, ahead and to his right, and as he moved forward, there was a break in the hedge, obviously an exit, and within the labyrinth Kalona and Neferet came into view. They were standing by a fountain. Heath breathed a shallow sigh of relief. The sound of the cascading water must have been what masked his footsteps. Pressing himself against the cold stone wall, he watched and listened.

“You call it pretense. I call it another point of view,” Kalona said.

“Which is why you can lie to her and still seem to be telling the truth,” Neferet snapped the words at him.

Kalona shrugged. “Zoey wants truth—so it is truth that I give her.”

“Selectively,” Neferet said.

“Of course. But do all mortals, vampyre, human, or fledgling, not select their own truths?”

“ Mortals . You say that as if you are so far removed from us.”

“I am immortal, which makes me different. Even from you, though your Tsi Sgili powers are transforming you into something that is close to immortal.”

“Yes, but Zoey isn’t anything close to immortal. I still believe we should kill her.”

“You are a bloodthirsty creature.” Kalona laughed. “What would you do, cut off her head and impale her as you did the other two who got in your way?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t kill her the same way I did them. It would be too obvious. She could simply meet with an unfortunate accident when she visits Venice in the next day or so.”