A Shade of Kiev (A Shade of Vampire #8)(30)
Author: Bella Forrest

I’m going to show you something.

Her arms reached around my neck, and the front of her body pressed against my back as she climbed onto me. I slid my hands along her toned legs to make sure they were wrapped tightly enough around me before lurching forward.

I swam with all the speed my limbs could carry us. I wasn’t as fast as her dolphins—I didn’t have fins, after all—but I was fast enough to make Mona… Irina… lose her breath. I swam the entire circumference of the island, and by the end, Irina was laughing in my ear.

“I never knew a human could swim so fast, Adrian,” she giggled, gasping for air.

I swam back to the rock where we had left our clothes. Her undergarments clung to the curves of her body as she emerged from the water, her figure a beautiful silhouette in the light of the moon. I pulled on my shirt and helped her button up her dress, and then I picked her up again and walked back toward the gate. She leant her head against my chest and closed her eyes, her soft breathing warm against my neck.

She turned back into Mona as we neared the wall, insisting that I put her down and stop touching her as she knocked at the gate. We entered through it and walked into the woods. Her hand slid around my midriff as she walked against me. She placed my own hand around her waist. We walked that way until we reached the lake.

“Thank you,” she said, her midnight-blue eyes twinkling, “for a wonderful night.” She climbed into her boat, and before rowing off, she looked at me and said, “I’d like to see you again, Adrian.”

I stayed watching by the banks until she’d crossed the lake and entered her cabin. Then I wandered back to my own room, replaying the events of the evening in my head as I walked. I hadn’t been expecting her to want a second meeting. I thought she would have wanted only one, just to ask me some questions. She had barely spoken, let alone asked me anything.

I don’t need to become that insipid Adrian fellow to win Mona over.

Mona. She was so different as Irina. Gone were the frowns, the scowls, the bitter sarcasm. In their place was just… an excitement for living. A lightness to her being. A freedom to her spirit. It hit me suddenly that Irina reminded me of Sofia in that respect.

For the first time in a long time, that morning, it wasn’t Sofia or Natalie on my mind as I drifted off to sleep.

It was Irina.

Chapter 30: Mona

The moment I entered my cabin, I ran to my desk. Pulling out the pile of parchment I kept in my drawer, I flipped to the chapter of Adrian and Irina’s first date. It was easy to find, because I’d never been able to start it. It was blank.

I wrote for hours, numb to the pain in my wrists. I didn’t even want to change out of my damp dress. Removing it would stir the mist of the night’s experience. I was afraid that a part of that night might fade from my being if I took anything off.

Although the scene I was writing was nothing like the time I’d just spent with Adrian, the words flowed more freely than I’d ever experienced in my life. It was as if my hand took on a life of its own and there was nothing I could do to stop the quill from dancing around on the parchment. Because the technicalities of the scene didn’t matter—my mind had never struggled with that. It was the emotions that my heart needed to immerse myself in my two characters.

By dawn, I was sitting in front of a finished chapter, the exhilaration of accomplishment rushing through my veins.

Kiev had been good. Very good.

In fact, as much as I hated to admit it, he’d surpassed all my expectations.

I’d actually been surprised that Kiev had shown up in the first place to play this childish game with me—especially after those descriptions I’d written for him. Although my Adrian was a good man, I hadn’t been able to resist exaggerating his characteristics just for Kiev. Because I hadn’t wanted to give Kiev an easy ride.

Admittedly, Kiev hadn’t behaved according to the character notes I’d given him. But I decided that I could forgive him for it. In fact, I was actually glad that he hadn’t been true to them, because the Adrian I had described was unrealistic, and frankly, less appealing than the version Kiev had decided to play.

Now that I’d finished the chapter, I took off my dress and earrings. I left the cabin and bathed in the lake, washing the salt from my body. I dried myself and pulled on some more comfortable clothes.

Then I resumed my seat at the desk and flipped through my story, leaving bookmarks in the other chapters that I hadn’t been able to start or finish. I took notes on a separate piece of parchment of all the emotions I needed to experience in order to complete them. Although the list wasn’t extensive. It was hard to list emotions that you didn’t know existed.

I walked out onto the veranda and brainstormed when and where I should go on my next date with Adrian. I decided that I would meet him again the following evening. I needed some time to wash and dry my dress so that it was ready. That was the one item I’d been able to bring with me when I left the realm of the witches, The Sanctuary, and somehow I’d managed to hold onto it over the years.

I picked it up and smoothed it over the railing, frowning. The hems were already starting to look tattered from last night’s escapade despite me trying to be careful. I’d need to try harder, because, other than my pearl earrings that Brett had gifted me, this was the only beautiful thing I’d allowed myself to own.

It needs mending as well as cleaning—another reason to delay my date with Adrian.

After I’d sewn up the gown’s hem, I washed it and hung it outside to dry. Then I returned to my desk and wrote out a message for Adrian.

A much shorter one than I’d written to Kiev.

“Dear Adrian,

I enjoyed last night immensely, and I hope you dried off before you caught a cold.

I would like to meet you again.

Tomorrow.

Same time. Same place.

Yours,

Irina.”

Chapter 31: Mona

When I arrived for the second date with Adrian just after sunset, he was already waiting for me. He stood in fresh clothes, leaning his elbow against the edge of the well. On seeing me enter the clearing, he held out a hand. He pulled my hand toward him and placed a chaste kiss on it. Chills ran through me as the slight scruff of his face brushed against my skin.

“Good evening,” I murmured, my heart beating faster.

He nodded, his gaze intense as he looked down at me. Without offering any explanation, he placed an arm around me and led me toward the forest. I had already made plans for this evening, but since he seemed to have something in mind, I decided not to interfere.