Read Online HER SWEETEST DOWNFALL (Paranormal Romance / Fantasy Novella) (Forever Girl Series - a Journal) by rebecca hamilton - Free Book Online Page B

could have learned that another time, in a more life-threatening situation where no one would have been around to help you.”
    The words, a sharp reminder of what her future held, cut into her heart. She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. Ethan joined her.
    “The Strigoi,” Ethan continued, “can track scents easily. Robert knew yours well because you two have met. He did not know the other scent was mine. If I’d been seen, too much would have been revealed. All of our efforts would have been for naught.”
    “Robert . . . followed my scent?” Ophelia asked. “All this way? But—”
    “He appeared as your mother . . . something else he shouldn’t be able to do. Clearly he has more ties than the average Strigoi. Maltorim ties.”
    She stared at the floor, trying to absorb all the implications. 
    Ethan lifted her chin, turning her face toward him. He swept away a dark lock of hair away from her cheek.
    “If I don’t do as I’m called, everyone will die. Including you . . . the woman I . . . the one . . . ” He sighed and closed his eyes. “I don’t deserve your forgi—”
    She pressed her fingers to his lips, silencing him. A new depth reflected in his brown eyes, a darkness along the edges of his pupils. The golden flecks brightened them. “It’s mine to give.”
    He kissed her then, his hand slipping along her jaw to cup her face.
    “I’m glad you weren’t harmed,” he mumbled against her lips before closing his mouth over hers again.
    Ethan’s lips tasted of sugar and cloves, and Ophelia inhaled his heady aroma as she kissed him. Her stomach flopped and her mind clouded. In that moment, there was only Ethan, the gentle caress of his tongue, and the sense of all being right as she kissed him back, tentatively at first, and then with more abandon.
    When he pulled back, Ophelia kept her eyes closed. She wasn’t sure she could look at him. 
    “I love you, Ophelia. I should not, but I do. Though we can never be together, I cannot live out the rest of my eternity without you knowing that. I am sorry, truly, that I did not stop you from going after Robert.”
    God help her, she loved him, too, but their time together would soon end. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
    “Ye could have come after me,” Ophelia said, though she knew that wasn’t true.
    “I needed to stay with Lenore while she finished her transformation. That opportunity might not have presented itself again. Perhaps . . . perhaps if I didn’t think I could help Lenore quickly enough, I would have gone after you myself.”
    When Ophelia said nothing, he stepped away from her. “Being around you—this has challenged everything I believed I was confident in. If only you realized how easily you could break my resolve . . . .”
    “I wouldn’t,” she replied quietly.
    “I know,” Ethan said. “That only makes this harder.”
    Ophelia couldn’t take any more of the conversation. She excused herself to wash up and prepare dinner, and, after a quiet meal, she joined Ethan by the fire. 
    He sat in his chair; she, on the floor by his feet. She rested her head against his thigh to stare at the crackle of the fireplace flames. His fingers swirled along her scalp, and she closed her eyes, breathing in the cabin air that had filled with the warmth of charred wood despite the draft of the chill night breeze.
    “How could Robert have looked just like my mother?”
    “There is something happening within the Maltorim. As my guardian told me, it could be years—centuries perhaps—before anything comes of it. What that is, exactly, is part of your calling, not mine.”
    “The ritual with Lenore . . . Something went wrong, didn’t it?”
    “The ritual went as planned.”
    “And the raven?”
    “There was no raven, Ophelia. There are Morts in the area. They won’t come near you when you are with me, but they can still disillusion you. Further, Robert had you under his influence.