Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose. Chapter 400: Why’s it you?

Leilani.

As I watched him leave, I couldn’t help the feeling of worry that crept up my spine, nor the confusion which now made its way into my mind, roping around like vines from an oak tree.

I didn’t even know how long I stood there watching the door even after he was long gone until I felt sothing warm drape over my shoulder, sending warmth shooting through my spine. I flinched.

"It’s a coat," Caelum whispered gruffly. "It’s only a fur coat. I noticed that you were shivering slightly due to the cold, and I had to drape sothing over you, knowing that I cannot get you away from there even if I tried."

And that... sothing about those words he probably didn’t think about before uttering made smile.

I do not know why but in that mont, I felt sothing fly between us. It was not the usual need to argue with him or the comfort I have long since grown to appreciate.

It was sothing else. Sothing wilder and dark. It was sothing that had in a chokehold and made want to gasp for air.

My smile stayed on my lips for a mont too long before I quickly shook my head and continued; "Oh, don’t mind . Thank you."

He humd in response but he didn’t leave. If anything, he hovered closer, his warmth seeping even through his coat to scorch my skin despite the fact that he was a couple of feet away from .

"What made you co here in the first place?" He suddenly asked, snapping out of my trance, and when I turned to look at him, he continued; "You couldn’t sleep?"

However, before I could even respond to that, he smiled and added; "I couldn’t either and decided to stretch my legs for a bit."

"Why couldn’t you sleep?" I asked, changing the topic to sothing that didn’t revolve around , my breath hitching when I noticed the way his eyes imdiately deepened into a darker shade of gray.

"I ca here because I woke up feeling thirsty and needed to have so water. I did not co here because I couldn’t sleep. So tell why you couldn’t."

This was the very first ti I would attempt to continue any form of conversation with Caelum without trying to send him off. It was the first ti that I was egging him on to talk to , and he used to always being a tad bit aloof around him, cocked his eyebrows at in askance, his voice dropping a few notches as he muttered;

"I was bothered,"

"What about?"

At the sound of my question, he flinched again as if he’d been physically struck by and then leaned back to flash a mischievous smile. His almost non existent dimples deepened as he joked;

"What is this?"

"Huh?" I frowned.

"Is this a rare occurrence where Miss Leilani Sinclair shows concern for , a lowly servant unworthy of her so precious ti and attention?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do not make this awkward," I sneered, but he ignored . If anything, he seed to be having the ti of his life now.

His eyes flashed in a way I found almost comical and the grin on his face made smile despite my attempt not to. I flinched when he draped his arm carelessly over my shoulder and muttered; "But I already feel strange ma’am,"

"Do not call ma’am," I hissed, but ignoring , he continued without missing a beat.

"I am worried and confused and I am almost beginning to think that you may have hit your head against sothing."

"And is this your way of changing the topic or making so flustered that I drop it?" I hissed, not missing the way his cheeks stained a bright shade of pink before he quickly lowered his head.

"Yeah, you’re right, smart pants." He sighed and then before I could co up with a retort, he said; "I had a dream..." his voice was so soft, it trailed off until I could barely hear him.

"A nightmare?" I asked in confusion and maybe a tinge of worry. Maybe. And my eyebrows nearly shot into my hairline when he shook his head at , his smile widening as he drawled; "No, a wet dream, Princess... an extrely erotic one."

At the ntion of that, my face burned. Like literally burned. It felt as though I had been engulfed in flas barely seen.

My body shook slightly, and wrapping the coat even more tightly around , I whispered; "I think that’s all I need to know, Mister."

His eyes flashed. "Oh, so now you do not want to know what and who I dread of?"

"No." I answered too fast. "I don’t."

"You don’t want to find out about how sexy she looked? How she moaned my na even before I laid my hands on her? You do not want to know how much I crave her?"

Sothing about those words made my stomach drop. A feeling akin to jealousy crept up my body until I managed to shove it down. I sighed. "No."

"Why?"

Why not?

"Because I think it’s none of my business!" I clapped back defiantly; But then, why did those words sound like a lie to ?

Why did it taste as though I had been forced to chew down on chalk?

I smacked his hands off my shoulder and walked away from him, but even as I went, I could still feel his presence beside ... around . He was like a cloud of smoke, hovering precariously.

I hissed; "Stop following !"

"Oh, I’m not!" He replied airily. "I was just... I was just thinking that we were not done with our conversation."

Annoyance rose like a fla inside of and I quickly spun around, ready to bite off his ears with my snappy words, only to freeze when I realized that he was not right behind . He was about five feet away.

He drawled; "You."

I frowned. " what?"

"It was you I dreamt of. It was your face I saw when I closed my eyes... your lips that I felt caress my arms and neck. You marked in my dreams and I can still feel my neck thrum despite knowing that it is unreal. That it can never be."

My breath hitched and holy bloody goddess.m, for a mont, I couldn’t do anything besides stare at him in complete shock.

Heat— wild and intense crept up my body and I felt my insides thrum with a kind of energy that felt foreign even to .

The breaths that escaped my nostrils and mouth were warm. Scratch that, they were hot, and they burned their way through my pipes as they made their way out.

"You don’t get to say that to ," I hissed quietly but that also felt like a lie. "You don’t get to flirt with ."

Sothing in his eyes darkened as soon as I said that, and usually, this should’ve been the party where he would back down. Right?

RIGHT?

So why the fuck is he coming closer?

Why the hell did he clip his index finger under my chin and use it to push my head upward in such a way that I now looked into his eyes?

And why are his eyes filled with so much emotion, I could barely breathe by just looking at them?

In his eyes were pain, joy, love... and desire all at once. And that made my stomach twist into a thousand knots. It made my body thrum with sparks so wild, I nearly got lost in them.

And to diffuse the already growing tension, I hissed; "I am glad you know that it can never be."

"So you an to tell that there is not a chance?" He drawled softly... smoothly. "You an to tell that you do not feel all of these?"

"I do not." I answered coldly, but I hated the way my voice sounded too light. Too soft. Too detached. It didn’t sound like .

It sounded like a lie.

"You lie."

"I do not."

"So you do not feel this?" He mused, trailing his fingers over my exposed arm. And it wasn’t until he did that that I realized that his coat had long fallen to the floor.

I shook my head despite the sparks of electricity coursing down my arm. "No, I do not."

"You do not feel this either?" He asked amusedly, coming to dart his fingers over my suddenly dry lips.

I flinched. "I do not."

A flicker of sothing akin to confusion crossed his features before he slowly pulled away and smiled. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really?"

And then he leaned down to kiss my lips, his eyes boring into mine as if to say: ’do you still not feel this?"

But I did.

I felt it every fucking where.