In the Wake of the Wicked (The Veridian Empire, #1)

by V.B. Lacey

And I couldn’t tell him that maybe, just maybe, I’d started to believe Gayl wasn’t who we thought he was. What was one more secret? One more lie? We see dark, hidden secrets, a deceitful tongue. For in the wake of the wicked, your poison will come. Let it come. I’d deal with that later—right now, I wanted to take something for myself. “Yes,” I said. “I think I’d like that, Leo.”

His answering smile tore through me, stealing the breath from my lungs. I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile—not like this, not like the sun breaking through the clouds, those dazzling eyes sparking like a jewel in a flame. “That’s the first time you’ve said my name.” I bit my lip, holding back my own smile. “That’s the first time you’ve earned it.” He huffed out a soft laugh, right as his hand came up to brush an escaped tendril from my face. I froze, the rough pads of his fingers like a searing trail of heat against the sensitive skin at my cheek. His arm fell away. “I’m glad he didn’t hurt you.”

“So sweet of you to care,” he said, mimicking my earlier words. His gaze lingered on me a moment longer before he made his way to the window, his tail caressing my ankle for a split second as it collected itself under his cloak.

“Thank you,” I said quickly, my cheeks heating. “For checking on me.” His eyes flicked down to the top of my parting robe, then back up my face. “You don’t have to thank me, Rose. It’s what friends do.” Without waiting for a response, he pulled the window open and slipped into the night. I ran to the sill to catch a glimpse of him crouching at the ledge before he lunged and landed soundlessly on the one right below. He repeated the action down one more floor, and then to the ground. The flickering candlelight from the outer courtyards of the palace illuminated his face enough for me to see him look back up at me with a wink.

He turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness. I couldn’t stop the smile that pulled at...

Chaz was right—she was easy to look at. The fact that she was beautiful wasn’t a secret. Anyone with eyes could see that; the way her dark hair shone like black velvet, how her full lips smirked when holding back a quick retort, those endless eyes that cut right through you. It didn’t help that I knew how her skin felt beneath my fingertips, how her body felt held against mine in a darkened corridor. Maybe I was attracted to her.

I wanted her to feel safe and comfortable with me. I wasn’t sure when the shift had taken place, but now I wanted to break down her walls, to see what demons she held beneath that tough exterior, what haunted her past and caused the helplessness and insecurity that tried to crack through her carefully curated shell.

Rose tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gave me a soft smile. One free of sarcasm, of derision or distaste or distrust. The beams from the afternoon sun shimmered around her, making her olive skin glow and her green eyes sparkle. She was…stunning. Fates, I was in trouble.

“Well, hello there,” Chaz crooned from the table. I ran my tongue over the top of my teeth, holding back a retort. “It’s Chaz, right?” Rose said, tilting her head at my friend as if she hadn’t spent hours with him just four days previously. A hint of a smirk pulled at her lips. Chaz held a hand to his heart. “You wound me.”

There were so many of her layers left to uncover. So many sides beneath the bold, reckless, sharp woman I was used to seeing. This side of her…it reminded me of that morning in the alcove. Pained, scared, and running.

Shared blood didn’t determine the choices one would make or who they would become.

She looked so fierce, so resilient, even in the face of her obvious distress. A beautiful storm ready to wipe out those in her path.

Fates, this woman. I couldn’t seem to stop myself from responding. “Themselves, maybe. The way you might make them feel. How bold you are with your magic, how unapologetic you are with your words. You challenge them. You challenge me.” My fingers itched to graze hers, the hitch of her breath chipping away at the tightness around my chest. “That’s enough to make anyone feel a bit of fear.” She held my stare, surprise glistening in her eyes. She wasn’t expecting that. Maybe I had layers, too. Sides she was beginning to uncover bit by bit. That thought used to frighten me. But for some reason, knowing she was letting her walls down too, that we were both toeing that line, scared of the precipice yet walking it all the same…it made it less daunting.

“Thank you, Leo.” Her voice was so quiet, it was like a breath. “Thank you for listening. For not getting angry and turning me away.” This time, I couldn’t stop my hand from raising to rest on the back of her neck, my thumb skimming her jaw. “I told you last night, you don’t have to thank me.” “Because we’re friends,” she said, drawing out the words. My lips twitched. That title felt searing with my skin against hers. “Yes. Because we’re friends.”

She swallowed, and I tracked the motion, the air crackling and snapping around us. I could feel her pulse at her neck, could see it thrumming the way it had in that alcove last week. I brushed m...

When you look in the mirror, what do you find? A rose in full bloom, with thorns on the vine? I was beginning to see those thorns now.

A knock on the door made me open my eyes, meeting the gaze of the woman staring back at me in the mirror. She looked like a challenger. A spy. A warrior. I felt like a fraud.

It pricked at my curiosity, dusting off some bone-deep desire.

“They may not be able to harm her physically, but there are far worse ways to cause pain, Rissa. We both know that.”

“Emperor’s tits, Leo, you never were a good liar.”

She grew closer. I could tell the moment she noticed me; her neck turned and she froze, like a deer caught in the sights of a predator. And then, she was running. To me. “Leo!” she gasped, her face sallow, eyes wild, before she slammed into me. I instantly brought a hand to cup the nape of her neck, my other holding her steady at her back. Her breaths were uneven and shaking against me, her nose nuzzling into my shoulder as I gripped her tighter. “I’ve got you. You’re safe now,” I murmured into her hair. Her choked sobs wrapped around my heart the way my fingers wrapped around the strands of her dark locks.

She didn’t respond but kept her eyes closed, her thumb warily tracing a path across my cheek, then my jaw, then the bridge of my nose and down to my lips. My eyes fluttered shut, a chill sweeping over my shoulders while heat built low in my stomach as her fingers explored my skin. I stepped closer into her, and she opened her eyes. I could have fallen to my knees in relief at her clear gaze, dispelled of the terror that had taken her captive. There she is. Her fingers still skimmed my mouth, as if in a trance. My lips parted on an exhale and my tongue involuntarily flicked against the rough pad of her thumb. She sucked in an almost imperceptible breath and pressed harder into my bottom lip.

I stepped away to give her space. But it didn’t matter how much space I put between us. The damage was done—I couldn’t get her out of my head, and I realized I no longer wanted to.

Although there was more distance between us, Leo’s tail came out to skim against the back of my leg. His way of bringing comfort when I was on the verge of breaking again.

I shook my head, taking a step closer to Leo without meaning to. His tail flicked against my ankle, covered by the darkness of the night and thick underbrush at our feet.

For some reason, Leo made me feel safe. His intense, protective, surprisingly tender way of caring for those around him made me believe nothing could reach us.

“It’s alright, Rose, you don’t have to go back right now,” he finally said. “We’ll take you to our cottage. You’re safe,” he reminded me. His deep voice seemed to calm the feral, anxious beast in me.

I’d spent my entire life keeping people at arm’s length where it mattered, allowing them access to the most shallow parts of me but never the hidden well of doubts and insecurities. Never to the heart. Physical contact was either a nuisance or a tool—even with my own family, I only tolerated their hugs and signs of compassion because I knew it mattered more to them than it did me.

But with Leo…it wasn’t the same. I found myself seeking what I once thought was juvenile—a warm embrace, soothing words, a graze of a finger against my anxious pulse. Even now, on the back of this horse, our bodies forced together in a way that would have once made discomfort blare through me…I felt calm. As calm as I could be, anyway. When the horse jolted and his hand shifted to my thigh, that calmness morphed into something more.

I wondered if his Shifter half made him able to sense the change in my heartbeats, the way my breath caught and then quickened, the pulse now fluttering at my neck. If he could tell that my muscles were still stretched as taut as a bowstring from those moments in the forest, when the feel of his skin beneath my fingertips banished the darkness and lit something new.

His chest straightened at my back, his single-handed grip on the reins making his knuckles turn white. The tip of his nose grazed my ear and, without thinking, I tilted my head to the left, an open challenge to see wh...

He let out a long breath and pressed his forehead into the back of my head before pulling away. “I won’t be a way for you to ignore your problems, Rose,” he whispered. Not accusatory, but tenderly. With a hint of strain, as if he were refraining from doing exactly that. “You need to rest. I promise, we can talk later.”

I settled against him, and as his hand splayed protectively across my stomach, I felt like something cherished. Something precious worth holding as opposed to wielding.

My neck rolled onto my shoulder. Leo put a hand behind my knees and easily swept me off the floor. I inhaled the scent of sandalwood and vanilla mixed with the night’s wind and leaves.

“What are you doing?” He glanced up with a smirk that sent a horde of butterflies loose in my stomach. Silently, he reached for my right ankle, gripping my calf as he slowly pulled my boot off. Even through my leggings, the heat of his touch was searing. He moved to my other boot and repeated the process without taking his eyes off me, his fingers lingering on the inside of my leg. I bit my bottom lip. He was toying with me, as I’d often done to him. Helping take my mind off the terrors pressing against me. It was working.

He stood and made his way to the head of the bed. Pulling the sheets back, he beckoned me to climb under them. The soft fabric beneath my fingers was a welcoming embrace, making my eyelids grow heavy as he positioned the blanket around me.

The bed shifted when he eased himself off, and I threw out my arm to grab his hand. “Wait—where are you going?” I asked sleepily. “To talk with my sis...

“Will you come back?” He paused, then asked, “Do you want me to?”

“Yes,” I slurred, my arm falling and tucking beneath me as I curled under the blanket. “I want you to come back.” The only response was something soft skimming my cheek as sleep dragged me below the surface.

My eyes flew open. I found myself sitting upright, tangled in unfamiliar sheets. A warm hand steadied my back. “It’s only a dream,” a voice said, rough with tiredness. “You’re safe, Rose.” Leo.

Seeing him like this, loose and unguarded and lying next to me, made something press against my chest, diverting attention away from my unease. Fates, nobody had the right to look that good, especially in the middle of the night.

Those eyes drew me in, soft and searching, as if in the dark he could finally let his guard down, could finally stop caring about keeping up his intense, moody bravado. I knew it came from a place of protection, a constant need to be on the alert, but I liked this side of him. My gaze traveled further down to a small scar on the edge of his jaw. He didn’t so much as flinch when I reached out to trace the length of it, feeling its smoothness against rough stubble.

I couldn’t help but remember how he looked at me—not with the wariness of the people back home, but with intrigue. Admiration, even. The things he said about me…that I was bold, brave, unapologetic. That I challenged people. It made me feel good. It made me feel seen.

I was in awe of the way he loved his family so unabashedly. I was curious about his background, how his Alchemist and Shifter blood worked together. I had an acute desire to know what that scar on his jaw felt like against my lips.

A lock of hair came loose from behind my ear and he reached out to brush it back, the movement so natural it was like second nature to him.

I met his gaze. “What are we doing, Leo?” My voice was barely a breath as it flowed over the moonlight. His lips quirked up the smallest amount. “Talking. Isn’t that what friends do?”

Just like that, he slipped back into our easy rapport, but this time, I didn’t think it was to hide or run away. I think he recognized how close to some sort of metaphorical cliff I was, how deeply this second trial had messed with my mind. In the small amount of time we’d known each other, he’d learned my masks put me at ease. That I needed a semblance of control when everything inside me felt like spiraling. And here he was, sharing that control with me.

I raised an eyebrow. “This doesn’t look like you want to be my friend.” “I asked if we could be friends. ...

But this…this didn’t feel meaningless. Nothing with him ever did.

“Then what do you want?” I asked. His hand drifted higher, a finger coming up to twirl around a lock of my hair. It was as if our embrace in the forest earlier had unlocked some part of him that couldn’t stop touching me. “I want you to be open with me. I want you to trust me. I want to get to know the real you, not a shadow version.” He released my hair and traveled to my jaw, lightly running his finger up to my cheek. His eyes tracked the movement, like he was reveling in the freedom our solitude provided. Even the barest of touches from him was much more intimate than I was used to. “I want that too,” I whispered.