My Sunrise Sunset Paramour (My Midnight Moonlight Valentine 2)

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“On a scale of one to ten—”

“Again, with this scale of yours? Didn’t I tell you that it was not strong enough?” Melora cut me off as she drank from the bottle filled with blood as a drunk human would drink wine.

“I thought that was just for Theseus,” I replied, staring up at the moon that hung like gold in the black night sky.

“Nope. I notice that everything with you, Druella, is always at above ten.” Melora chuckled, drinking again.

Frowning, I turned my head and gazed at Atarah, who sat up in the grass with her dress puffed up all around her, drinking her blood from a teacup. “You aren’t going to disagree?”

“No, I think her assessment is pretty spot-on,” Atarah replied and sipped—her control was amazing.

They had led me to the gardens, Rhea’s garden, with a large maze at the back of their palace, and yes, I was calling it a palace. The maze was massive and made of green shrubs. Arsiein apparently created it as a defense measure against mortals should they accidentally stumble too close to the house. But it did not seem possible since how could they make it so close with all the vampires around here? Ulrik thought the same, so he would use it to trap mortals or pigs and chase them. We sat in the garden upon the grass, drinking the blood already out here for us, away from everyone else.

I sighed and wanted to kick my feet like a child. “I’m not trying to be at or above a ten. I’m trying to be normal, simple, but nope. Instead, I shoot off magic from my fingertips.”

“Don’t forget silencing and burning Orspina’s throat,” Atarah added and took another sip. “I’ve seen women do a lot in marking their territory—”

I sat up. “Marking their territory? I didn’t—”

“You bit Theseus in front of every vampire worth a damn in this country,” Melora reminded me. “Even his father. And I thought I was bold, but you? You pretty much yelled, ‘He is mine, and you try to say otherwise, I will set you on fire,’ then proceeded to force Orspina to agree to your terms. Brava, honestly, brava.” She clapped for me.

I pouted and lay back, brushing my hands over the necklace. “It’s not my fault. Well, it is my fault. But it’s not like—ugh, I don’t know how to say it. I just think something or want something, and it begins to happen, and I just—”

“Lean into your power?” Atarah replied.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know to control it, but it still knew what I wanted and did what I wanted, and sometimes, I liked it. “Has Orspina really been after Theseus this whole time…over a thousand years?”

“Yep.” Melora nodded. “She was sure they were soulmates, and that’s why neither of them had been mated after all this time. She even excused Rhea of hiding the truth from Theseus because of Rhea’s hate for her.”

“I’m sure Rhea regrets killing her,” Melora mused as if that was not a big massive detail I also didn’t know.

“Rhea killed her?”

Melora and Atarah gave me a look.

“What?” I asked. “I remembered Theseus saying she’d killed the man who had killed him. But nothing about his former wife.”

“When Theseus told you his story and how his mother saved him, you didn’t put together that to do this, she would have to kill both of the people who had hurt him?” Atarah asked, and now that she broke it down that way, it seemed obvious.

“Rhea snapped the neck of the man Orspina was with. And she ripped out Orspina’s heart. She actually ripped it from her chest and threw it beside her body,” Melora added. “Sadly, Rhea did not know Orspina was a healing witch.”

“A mortal can heal from their heart being ripped out?” Not something I wanted to find out personally, but what?

“She wasn’t so much healing as taking longer than normal to die. From what Rhea had learned, it was as if her body was trying to put itself back together but failing as she was dying. And because the little seductress had many admirers, one of them being a vampire, she entered into immortality the same night as Theseus. They are exactly the same age again. Ever since then, Orspina has been trying to get Theseus to forgive her. Theseus has been ignoring her, purposely sleeping with other women, hoping to the gods she truly wasn’t his mate—well, when he wasn’t off looking for a method to die. Anyway, that’s the story. Greeks—it’s always so dramatic with them.” Melora shook her head and drank from her bottle again.

When she saw me staring, she offered the bottle to me, maybe thinking I was hungry and not trying to erase the knowledge that my mate’s former wife had been chasing after him for over a thousand years.

“You would think she’d give up, or at the very least, accept defeat now that you are here. But then again, it’s her obsession. I knew she’d come if only to see you in person.” Atarah sighed pitifully. “And before she could do or say more than a few lines, you crushed her. Not that you could do much. Her gift gives off different scents of flowers depending on the flower that can be dangerous to some. Oh, and apparently, she looks even more beautiful than most vampires. But that doesn’t count to me.”

“Thank the heavens I do not have your power, Dru,” Melora replied, licking blood off her lips. “If it were me? I’d be a bloody tyrant. Let anyone even talk to Ulrik for longer than a minute and snap.” She snapped her fingers right in front of my face. “I’d turn them to ash—actually, no, I think I’d make them into some sort of fish.”

“Fish?” I repeated, not understanding.

“That way, she could torture them in water and deprive them of it, too,” Atarah replied, shaking her head at her. “Melora is only vindictive when it comes to Ulrik.”

“Hey, don’t go throwing me under the bus and not mention the actual woman you imprisoned.”