BLOOD & RHYTHM

Chapter 9: Jealousy

Dorian didn't leave.

Not really. He retreated, yes—walked out of the music room with that infuriating smile still curved on his lips. But I felt him everywhere after that night. In the shadows that seemed deeper. In the silence that felt heavier. In the way Alexander's eyes kept drifting to the windows, watching for something I couldn't see.

Three nights passed. I played. Alexander listened. We didn't talk about Elena. We didn't talk about the Council. We didn't talk about the words I'd said—*I think I'm falling in love with you too*—that hung between us like a promise neither of us knew how to keep.

But on the fourth night, Dorian returned.

I was alone when he found me.

Alexander had been called away—some vampire business he couldn't explain, couldn't avoid. He'd left me in the music room with my Stradivarius and a fire and a glass of wine I didn't drink. "Lock the door," he'd said. "Don't open it for anyone."

I'd locked it.

It didn't matter.

One moment I was playing, lost in the music, my eyes closed. The next, a voice spoke from directly behind me.

"Such dedication. Such passion. No wonder our dear Alex is so besotted."

I spun around, nearly dropping my bow.

Dorian lounged in the armchair by the fire, one leg crossed over the other, looking for all the world like he'd been there for hours. How had he—the door was still locked. I could see the bolt from here, solid and unmoved.

"How did you get in?"

He smiled. It was a beautiful smile—warm and inviting and utterly terrifying. "I have my ways, darling. Vampires are full of surprises." He rose, moving toward me with that same liquid grace Alexander possessed. "Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to... talk."

"About what?"

"About you. About him. About the inevitable." He stopped a few feet away, close enough that I could smell him again—that whiskey-and-old-wood scent. "You know this can't last, don't you?"

"I don't know anything."

"Smart girl. Cautious." He circled me slowly, and I turned to keep him in sight, unwilling to let him get behind me. "But you must have questions. About what he is. About what you're getting into. About what happens to humans who fall in love with monsters."

"I'm not—"

"Oh, but you are. I can see it in your eyes. Smell it in your blood." He inhaled deeply, and something flickered in his amber gaze. Hunger. Want. The same thing I'd seen in Alexander's eyes, but without the restraint. Without the care. "You're already his. You just haven't admitted it yet."

My hand tightened on my bow. "Why are you here, Dorian?"

"Because I want to offer you a choice." He stopped circling, standing before me with that smile firmly in place. "Alexander will destroy you. Not intentionally—never intentionally. He'll love you too much, protect you too fiercely, keep you too close. And when the Council decides you're a threat—because they will, they always do—he'll have to choose. You or them. Love or survival."

"And you're different?"

"I'm honest." He shrugged. "I don't pretend to be something I'm not. I don't promise forever when I can only offer tonight. If you came to me, you'd know exactly what you were getting. No illusions. No false hope. Just... pleasure."

"I'm not interested."

"Not yet." He leaned closer, and I forced myself not to retreat. "But you will be. When Alexander breaks your heart—because he will, they all do—you'll remember this conversation. You'll remember that someone offered you a choice. And you'll come find me."

"Get out."

"Soon." His voice dropped to a whisper, intimate and infuriating. "But first, let me give you something to think about."

He moved so fast I didn't see it coming. One moment he was a foot away, the next his lips brushed my ear, his breath cold against my skin.

"One day," he murmured, "you'll come to me. Willingly. Eagerly. And when you do, I'll make you forget his name entirely."

The door exploded inward.

Alexander stood in the doorway, and he was not the man I knew. His eyes were pure black—no gray, no white, nothing but endless, hungry darkness. His fangs had descended fully, glinting in the firelight. And his face—

His face was a mask of pure, animal rage.

"Dorian." The name was a growl, barely intelligible. "Remove your hands from her. Now."

Dorian straightened slowly, deliberately, taking his time stepping away from me. His smile never wavered.

"Alexander. How nice of you to join us. We were just getting acquainted."

"I told you to stay away from her."

"You told me many things." Dorian smoothed his jacket, utterly unconcerned. "I don't recall agreeing to any of them."

Alexander moved.

This time, I saw it—or most of it, anyway. He crossed the room in a blur, seized Dorian by the throat, and slammed him against the wall so hard the stones cracked. Dorian's head snapped back, but he was still smiling.

"So violent," he gasped. "All over a human. You used to have more control."

"I used to have nothing to lose." Alexander's voice shook with rage. "Now I do. And I will destroy anyone who threatens her. Anyone. Even you. Especially you."

"The Council won't—"

"The Council can burn."

Dorian laughed, though the sound was strained. "There he is. There's the man I used to know. Welcome back, old friend."

Alexander's grip tightened. For a moment—just a moment—I thought he might actually kill him. Right here, in front of me, consequences be damned.

"Alexander." My voice was soft, but it cut through the tension. "Let him go."

He didn't look at me. "Luna—"

"Let him go. He's not worth it."

For a long, terrible moment, nothing happened. Then Alexander's hands opened, and Dorian slid down the wall, catching himself at the last moment.

Dorian straightened his collar, rubbed his throat, and fixed his golden hair with the same casual arrogance as before. But when he looked at me, something in his eyes had shifted. Interest, yes. But also something else. Respect, maybe. Or the beginning of obsession.

"One day," he said again, softly, for my ears alone. "You'll come to me."

Then he was gone—through the broken door, down the hall, into shadows I couldn't follow.

Alexander stood frozen, his back to me, his shoulders heaving with breaths he didn't need. When he finally turned, his eyes were still too dark, his face still too harsh.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have—I couldn't control—when I saw him touching you, I—"

"Alexander." I crossed to him, ignoring every instinct that screamed danger. "Look at me."

He did. His eyes were still black, but I could see the gray fighting to return, see the man battling the monster inside.

"I'm okay," I said. "He didn't hurt me. He just... talked."

"What did he say?"

"That I'd come to him someday. That you'd break my heart." I reached up, touching his face, feeling the cold marble of his skin. "He doesn't know you. Not really."

"Luna—"

"I know what I'm choosing. I know the risks. And I'm still here." I rose on my toes and pressed my lips to his, softly, gently. "That's not going to change because of anything Dorian says."

When I pulled back, his eyes were gray again. Human again. Full of something I was beginning to recognize as love.

"I've never felt this before," he whispered. "Jealousy. I didn't think I could still feel it."

"How does it feel?"

"Terrible." A ghost of a smile. "And wonderful. Because it means I care. Really care. About you."

I smiled back. "Good. You should care."

"I do." His arms wrapped around me, pulling me against his cold chest. "More than I've cared about anything in four hundred years."

We stood like that for a long time, wrapped in each other, while the fire crackled and the night stretched on. And somewhere in the darkness, I knew Dorian was watching.

Waiting.

But for now, I was exactly where I belonged.