I stood in the foyer of his home, clutching the bag I carried like an anchor. My eyes roamed the walls as I waited to be announced, studying the various art that decorated the walls.

I walked closer to one of the paintings. A portrait of a woman, devastatingly beautiful. Her brown eyes smiled as if they were alive still.

I heard footsteps behind me and knew it was him, without even turning. I felt his warmth. His presence.

I turned around expecting him to be right behind me; instead, he was leaning against the doorway of the parlor. Much like the first night that I laid eyes on him.

"Nova," he said his voice hushed, flowing over me, warm and thick as honey, "You look stunning."

I dipped my head looking up at him through my lashes.

"Good Evening, Berith."

"Would you like a drink while we wait for dinner? It should be ready in a few minutes." He stepped forward holding his hand out, like an offering.

I placed my hand in his as he turned me gracefully until he was behind me. Touching me but not.

"Allow me to take your cloak," he offered.

"Yes, please." I unfastened the clasp at my throat, allowing the garment to slide from my shoulders.

I heard a small intake of breath as he looked at me, making me want to smile. I turned slowly, holding my face as passive as I could at that moment. He stood there, before me, his lips parted slightly and his golden-flecked eyes wide.

I blinked and his face was once again almost unreadable, except for his eyes. The glint in those eyes, as if a fire had been lit; burning within.

"the drink Berith," I reminded him, smiling up at him.

He cleared his throat turning to hang the cloak along the wall. "Yes, please, follow me."

We walked down the hallway into the study where he quickly made his way to the bar, pouring two generous glasses of the amber liquid I had grown fond of.

My eyes drank him in as the liquid burned its way to my belly.

His hair curled softly at his neck, the light gray of his button-up shirt standing out against his bronze skin. The tailored pants strained ever so slightly against his muscular thighs.

I felt a slow heat creep onto my face and realized I was staring. But then again, so was he.

Softly, I first heard music floating into the study from the courtyard. It drew my attention away from him for just a brief moment. Long enough for him to close the distance between us.

"Nova, you look absolutely—" His words were interrupted y the curtain closing off the courtyard parting, revealing a fairytale scene that rendered me speechless.

Twinkling candlelights filled the space. In the center, a canopy sat with flowing gauzy white cloth creating a private dining space, with a small round table set for two. Its filmy fabric glowed from the flickering candlelight.

"Shall we?" Berith asked, offering his arm to escort me to our seats.

Instead of taking his arm, I grabbed him, turning him with little effort to face me. He towered over me as I stared up at him. My heart beating as the heat between us built. He looked down at me questioning, one scarred brow raised.

I knew that he could have prevented any movement but he didn't.

"Nova," he breathed his arms straining against his shirt.

"I have waited all afternoon for this," I whispered gazing up at him, pulling his arms down and around me.

He sighed, bending down as he enveloped me in an embrace.

"What?" I wanted to know, his face inches from mine.

"I have waited a lifetime for this," He whispered before his lips took mine.

My arms went around his neck, and I fisted my hands into his soft curls. He deepened the kiss and I moaned against his mouth, aware of him pressed hard against my stomach. My feet were no longer touching the ground as he lifted me to him. His tongue slowly massaged mine.

"Nova," he groaned as I flicked my tongue out to taste his soft lips.

He walked us backward sitting me on top of the bar causing my skirt to open at the high slit he obviously didn't know was there, exposing my bare leg. He hissed as he ran his hand up my thigh, making me shiver against him.

He ran his other hand up my back tugging on the ends of my hair.

I let my head fall back and his lips were on my throat tasting me. As he nibbled and kissed my flesh my back arched into him, the noises that involuntarily escaped me spurred him on. He pulled me into him just as his mouth crashed into mine. His hands were warm and rough on my thighs, his fingertips brushing dangerously close to my center. Heat pooled in my core at the near encounter and I couldn't help but moan against his mouth.

A bell sounded jerking me out of the warm foggy bliss I had fallen into. I groaned, breathing heavily, trying to compose myself.

"My staff is going to be serving our dinner," he said, his voice husky and strained.

He lifted me from the bar depositing me gently to my feet as I pouted up at him. I didn't know what was happening to me. I had never been so forward or felt so wanton in my life, and I knew that I cared nothing of the dinner we were supposed to have.

I wanted his flesh. I wanted him to touch me and taste me.

"Berith, please," I pleaded. I didn't recognize my own voice.

"Nova." He handed me another half-filled glass that I begrudgingly accepted as he lead me to my seat inside the canopy tent, his own movements were stiff.

"There are things tha we need to discuss before we take this any further. Before you give yourself to me. Things you must know."

Something in his voice made me stop and listen to him. He sounded almost fearful. Timid, not at all what I was expecting.

"What's wrong? Do you not want me?" My voice was shaky and hated myself for it. I felt like I was whining.

"Of course, I want you, Nova. That's not it all." He grabbed my hand forcing me to look at him with a gentle squeeze.

A bell rang and two people entered the tent setting out the first course in front of us, filling our glasses before disappearing back into the house.

As soon as they were gone I moved my chair next to him; decorum be damned.

"What is it then? I have been hearing you for as long as I can recall; You have been with me. So please, just tell me."

His eyes seemed to burn into me. Licking his lips he paused, an unsure look passed across his ace as he searched for the words that came next, "If we—" He stopped gulping his whiskey, searching my face, for something. What I wasn't sure.

"You will belong to me, Nova. For eternity. We will be linked, as we are now, but this will be binding. You cannot change your mind once it happens. And you will change. Our souls will be...." His voice trailed off.

"Be what?"

There was a pain in his eyes, and all I wanted to do was make that pain go away. Truthfully, it didn't matter to me what he was about to say. No one would understand that line of reasoning; but if they felt as I did; grew up as I did; and had the Otherworldly Powers that I seemed to possess; they would.

I looked at him expectantly.

"You and I will be eternally bound. Our souls, two halves of a whole.

No matter what. And," he paused taking another drink, "you may have suspected that I am not mortal, Nova. I never have been. But neither are you."