The Dark Warlock: The Nox Haven Series

Chapter 26: Celestial Day Part 1

Roberto must have started to advance towards Aleksander and I because Jaxon abandoned his post and began plow through the crowd. Before Roberto could reach us, Jaxon intercepted him and changed his direction. I stared at their two retreating backs, for a moment before I allowed myself to relax in Aleksander's embrace. Phase one was almost complete all we needed to worry about now, was whether or not Roberto would fall from Jaxon's mind games. He was smart, I'd give him that but Jaxon was a manipulative monster when need be. How else would he have passed high school and gotten into Oxford- it wasn't because he was smart, it was because he knew how to be a sneaky little cheat.

"I don't feel any anger or pain," Aleksander whispered in my ear. His lips were hovering above my lobe, if any other couple would have looked over, they would have thought he was whisper sweet nothings in my ear instead of playing Agent 007. "I think he's getting away with it."

If I focused really hard, I would have been able to feel traces of Roberto and Jaxon's emotions but it put a lot of strain on my mind and I needed to save all of my energy for a potential fight. Aleksander's empathetic abilities were also more refined than mine, I trusted he knew which emotions to decipher and how to read them correctly. After all, he had been doing those tricks since grade school.

Twirling my body around in slow circles, Aleksander gradually pulled us through the group of people until we were dancing on the fringe of the group. I quirked a brow, beckoning for him to reveal his intentions when I notice a certain heir standing close to us. It was Adeline Volkov, in all of her esteemed glory. She wore a red velvet gown, with a flowing cape and sparkling crown. Centered perfectly at the nape of her neck was the pulsing ruby gem. With each pulsation, my need to snatch it off of her neck grew.

"Aleksander, Caddie!" Adeline's sweet, accented voice called.

Breaking away from Alek, I offered his ancestor a closed lipped smile. Adeline wasn't really that bad, but her crush on the devil made me uneasy. Knowing that she was probably helping Roberto in some way, alleviated any qualms I had about Alek manipulating her.

"Adeline, dear," Aleksander led us over to his ancestor with a warm smile lighting up his face. "You look beautiful tonight."

She blushed and ducked her head, "Not as beautiful as your lovely date, I'm afraid."

I felt Aleksander's gaze move from Adeline to me. Even without looking back at him, I could envision the way his blue eyes with shimmered with love and adoration. It was impossible not to follow Adeline's sheepish actions when he was staring at me like I was the most valuable person in the world.

"Yes, she is a beauty."

Clearing my throat, I willed my scarlet blush to disappear and redirected the topic of conversation to Adeline. "Surely, you can't be here alone. Where is your date?"

Adeline emotions plummeted with the mention of her date. A frown tugged at the end of her painted red lips. "Roberto," she sighed, "Does not like to do dance."

"How unfortunate for him," Aleksander said. He sent his ancestor the fakest look of sympathy I had ever seen, with his eyes widened almost comically and mouth pinched together. Adeline was too busy wallowing in self pity she didn't even pick up on the fake sincerity.

"Well, I'm a bit parched from dancing," I announced and turned to Aleksander, "While I fetch a drink, how about you accompany your cousin for a dance?"

Alek smirked, "Wonderful idea Caddie. What do you say Adeline."

"Oh I couldn't-" Adeline tried to protest weakly but I wasn't having none of that. I needed them to spend time together if he was going to get the amulet.