With everyone else occupied, it left her alone with Anj. At first, he’d gone off on his own, chatting with his plethora of female fans. Even if he was fighting with Jewl, for whatever reason, that didn’t keep him away from her for long. About half an hour into the night, they were on the dance floor.
Jewl had never properly been taught how to dance until she met Anj. He had taken it upon himself to learn. A handful of lessons later, they were both practically pros. She could not dance with anyone else as she did with him. They were made for each other. When Jewl and Anj were on the dance floor together, it was as if they were one.
Anj was born legally blind. Without his magic, he could occasionally make out a few solid shapes in brighter lighting. As he often told Jewl though, it was more of a pain than anything. His vision was useless to him and, for the most part, he relied on his other senses to make it through life. More often than not, he was capable of taking care of himself, so he didn’t need to use a spell. He only saved his magic for special occasions, or so he’d told her in the past. She must have been one of those.
As he pulled her closer to him, completely breathless, his eyes changed from bright blue back to their natural dark brown. She smiled. She always felt a tingle of happiness when he used his magic just to look at her. He didn’t have a lot of it, so she felt honored to be important enough for him to want to see.
“I think I need some fresh air now,” he said leaning closer to her ear so she could hear him over the music. “It’s become a bit stuffy in here. But that may be because I’m surrounded by my own ambiance”.
His warm breath made her shiver. “Always the delicate one,” she said with a smirk. “All right. Go get your fresh air.”
“That was an invitation. You wouldn’t leave me to walk the hallways alone and defenseless, would you?”
“You’re hardly defenseless. I might be more inclined to join you if you said you wanted me there.”
“I do.”
“You do what?”
“Want you there. Why do you always have to make everything so difficult?”
Jewl threw up her hands in frustration and walked away. If she’d done anything else, she knew she would regret it later. She’d rather not spend the rest of the night avoiding him. Though walking away could have been worse since he hated to be abandoned. Either way, she was doomed.
I can’t cry, she thought as she exited out of the side door of the ballroom. I can’t. It would ruin everything.
She didn’t expect him to follow her. After all, he was much too prideful to show himself as anything less than in control. Which was why she was so surprised when he came after her.
“That was rude, you know, leaving me there and not waiting. I told you to come with me. What more do you want?” he said, his heavy footsteps matching up with hers.
Jewl shook her head. “And you tell me I’m the difficult one. You’ve got a lot to learn about how to make people feel wanted.”
“Ah, yes, wise kettle, please teach this here lowly pot. I will take notes thoroughly because you know so well how to effectively treat a person,” he said, voice heavy with sarcasm.
“I left because I didn’t want to fight with you.”
“I don’t want to fight with you either.”
Jewl didn’t say a word. She folded her arms across her chest, pursing her lips.
Anj stayed quiet, too. He’d never been comfortable with silence, always describing it to her as complete emptiness. “You’re giving me your doubtful pouty lips, aren’t you?”
“Close enough,” she said through clenched teeth.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other while idly running his hands over his black suit jacket. When he wanted to clean up, he knew how to do it with style. His shaggy dark hair was styled so she could actually see his eyes for a change. It was no wonder that all of the girls went wild over him. Not only was he mysterious, he was also strong, confident, and flat-out good looking. Jewl was the one he had chosen, and she continually rejected him. Still, he pursued her anyway which made no sense to her most of the time.
“I told you, I don’t want to fight,” he insisted. “It’s just that it’s the only way you will actually communicate with me.”
“And here I thought you just got off on it,” she said.
“I refuse to acknowledge that with an on-topic response.”
If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn he was blushing, but Anj didn’t blush. He was far too cool for something childish like that. Yet, there was an ever so slight shade of pink across his cheeks.
“Can we please go somewhere else? I’d like to go somewhere darker.”
“And that makes a difference why?”
“Because when it’s dark I’m not tempted to use the last of my magic to watch you. You look absolutely stunning tonight and it’s distracting.”
It was her turn to blush as she felt the heat rising on her face. She wasn’t as lucky as the other girls at the homecoming dance. There was no family to help her get ready. She didn’t have a roommate or any real friends. Somehow she had managed to put everything together alone. While it was simple, it was good to know her efforts had at least been successful.
Synopsis:
Jewl Dite has always struggled with her heritage. Being the daughter of the goddess of love, she questions everything about the emotion. Which is a bummer because she’s head over heels for Anj Willam, and thinks the feelings are mutual. It’s hard to be sure though when she has magic that has been known to bewitch men into devoting themselves to her. Somehow they’re able to strike a balance in their dysfunctional on-again, off-again relationship however.
This balance is disrupted however when a strange boy named Teague enters her life and brings along with him a group of demons. Demons who want to make a deal with her in exchange for the safety of everyone she loves.
Now to protect those she holds most dear, Jewl must rely on the magic she’s been trying so desperately to avoid. But at what cost? Will the boy she loves accept this dark secret, or will she lose him forever?
Wanna read the first book? You can check it out here and get ready for the fabulous sequel!
