Illuminated by Alexa Piper

Author:Alexa Piper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIN 010672-03469
Publisher: Changeling Press LLC
Published: 2023-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

We walked back to the cottage in silence. I felt so comfortable with him rather than awkward, enjoyed his steadiness, the way he was calm. Calming, even, a lot like the waves and the night around us.

I took my shoes off on the patio and shook out the sand that had collected in there while Auris headed back inside to work his magic with the fireplace.

When I closed the sliding glass door behind me, the flames crackled as they devoured fresh logs. I took my jacket off while Auris headed back to the bedroom to build yet another fire there. I walked along the hallway and watched him doing it from the door.

“You enjoy that, don’t you?”

“The fires? Certainly. Do you want me to show you how it’s done?”

I shook my head. “Why if I have an ancient vampire who’ll do it for me?”

He smiled a toothy smile at me. “Pressuring me into servitude, Ethan? So soon? Most lovers have the decency to wait at least a fortnight.”

“Not me. I have standards.”

He chuckled and turned back to his work, and I had the urge to photograph him.

“Hey, did you bring --” I began, but then spotted my camera bag behind the others on the floor of the room. “Don’t move,” I said as I dug for my camera.

“My sweet, you cannot hold still when making fire. It defies the purpose.”

“Fine, do the purpose thing,” I mumbled, mostly because I had my camera out and was adjusting the settings.

Auris, all black, and in front of him, red fire growing from the cold stone, was immortalized with a click. With the second and third, I got his face, pale and orange in the fire’s light, against the black of his hair and clothing, black eyes reflecting the flames.

For the next one, I caught his head half-turned to me, his eyes enchanting the camera. I took a few of those, then stopped.

“You don’t mind, do you?” I asked.

I took one more photo of the smile that built on his face. “With you behind the camera, I don’t.”

I blushed, happy the orange fire would hide it. “I think I’ll go and take a hot shower. That okay?”

“Of course.”

I put my camera away again and found my sweatpants in the luggage. I definitely had left those out on my bed at the hotel, meaning Auris had folded up everything nicely before getting my stuff, but he’d also seen my not quite messy but also not very organized hotel room. It was one of the things my ex had kept bringing up, how I got super messy when I worked.

I grabbed a sweater and pushed the memories of other people aside, then walked across the hallway.

The shower heated quickly, and the warm water felt good as I stood there, letting it wash over my face and back. I toweled off and put my sweats on, the lavender-scented air comforting. Crawling back under the covers in the now fire-warmed bedroom sounded very enticing, even though I

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