Moonlight crept across the stone floor of the castle’s long-pillared gallery. Sygni lounged in deep shadow against the wall wreathed in ‘overlook’ spellcraft. She was bored out of her mind.
Something rattled softly outside.
Huh? Sygni jerked alert and peered at the tall row of arched windows open wide to the night.
A pair of masculine hands grabbed onto the castle’s broad stone windowsill. A strikingly handsome if harshly carved face lifted above the sill, framed in long midnight hair.
Sygni raised her brows. How in Hel’s domain did he get way up here on the third floor from the outside? Did he actually climb?
He lunged up and crouched on the stone sill, balancing carefully in old-style cowboy boots. His broad shoulders and biceps barely fit into his antique biker’s jacket. Muscular thighs bulged in very tight, very faded jeans. Outlined in moonlight, he shimmered with an aura of otherworldly shadow. His black eyes glimmered lambent green from reflected light like a cat.
Well, damn, he looks tasty! Sygni stared with interest. This was no chain-rattling poltergeist.
The man suddenly disappeared, then reappeared standing in the middle of the gallery.
Sygni’s brows shot up. Whoa… He had moved too fast for her eyes to catch. No wonder they hadn’t been able to chase him down.
The intruder swept his hair back with both hands. Abruptly he lifted his head, peering suspiciously into the shadows. He frowned as his eyes passed right over her twice.
Sygni smiled. Pretty-boy knows somebody is close by, but I doubt he knows enough mage-craft to penetrate one of my spells.
He scowled, turned and disappeared.
Fucker is really fast. Not that it will do him any good. She smiled and waited to see which of the doorway alerts he was going to trip.
A shimmer jangled across her senses.
Ah, he’s in the library, one floor down. Somewhat amused, she headed down to the second-level library. It wasn’t as if he could leave; every door and window in the place was threaded and webbed with an entrapment spell. Now that he was inside, he was hers. She licked her lips. Whatever else he was, he was one beautiful beast she couldn’t wait to tame.