Chapter 48 - Such a good girl

EMMA

Hadrian neatly folds the map along the lines and places it back in the drawer. I peek over his arm into the drawer. “What else have you got hiding in there?”

Hadrian leans in and his lips grace the shell of my ear. “Don’t you want to know?”

My heart rate picks up and Hadrian takes out another map from the drawer. He places it folded on his desk. The paper is thicker and more aged than the other one. My fingers itch to open it and see what is inside.

I bite my lip and anxiously wait for Hadrian to open it, but he doesn’t. I look up at him and find that he’s watching me instead.

He has an amused smirk on his face. “You are a glutton for knowledge aren’t you?”

I’ve never really thought of it. I can feel myself blush and Hadrian chuckles and runs his knuckle over the burned flesh, which only aggravates the stream of blood.

He carefully opens the map. The paper is yellow and brittle. There are black lines that outline the city of Sanguinem. The map is detailed and shows the many roads and canals.

Hadrian points to the gray lines that seem jumbled over the page. “Those are the tunnels running under the streets of Sanguinem.”

I trace over the thin lines on the paper and I follow it all around the map.

I turn my eyes to Hadrian. “What about the palace?”

“Only my father has a map of the palace in the vault. Nobody is allowed to know about them.” Hadrian says as he starts to fold the map.

“But you do.”

He places the map back in the drawer and locks it. “I was a curious pup, the palace holds little secrets for me.”

I turn to the wall where the tunnel hides. I wonder where the tunnels all lead to and what parts I could uncover.

Hadrian places his hand on my chin and turns my face to him. “Will you promise me something?” He’s watching me with furrowed brows.

“What?”

“I know you’re curious, but promise me that you won’t go alone.”

I watch him and notice the sense of urgency in his request. “Okay, I promise.”

Hadrian moves away and takes away his warmth. A shiver runs over my spine and I visibly shudder. I can’t get used to the cold in the palace. It is colder at night when the sun is gone.

Hadrian moves out of the office and I hear his footsteps on the wooden floorboards. He quickly returns with two thick, black cashmere sweaters. “I don’t want you to be cold.”

I take the sweaters from him. My fingers sink into the soft wool. I’ve never held cashmere before I arrived here. “Thanks.”

I smile at him and Hadrian rubs the back of his neck. I notice a red tinge running along the length of his throat. “Do you still want to see my wolf?”

I clutch the sweaters harder. “Yes!” I get up from the seat and pull on one of the sweaters.

“You’re not afraid?”

I pull my hair out from my neck, bind it into a ponytail and tuck my necklace into the sweater. I think about his question. It’s a logical one, but—

“I guess not.” I turn to face him. “I know you wouldn't hurt me. Right?”

Hadrian moves a wandering lock behind my ear. “Hurting you is the last thing I want.” His fingers trace over the skin of my jaw and leave behind a trail of heat.

Hadrian chuckles. “If I knew you’d be excited to see my wolf, then I would’ve shown you way earlier.”

Everything he says has a layer of seduction to it and even the most mundane things have my head in a tailspin.

Hadrian walks to the window and I send him a raised eyebrow.

“We are going to take the scenic route. I don’t want the guards to know that we left.”

I eye the window. “When you say scenic route…”

“I mean through the window.” He shoots me a smile with eager eyes like he’s actually excited to climb out of a forty-foot-high castle.

*I think I married a madman.* I blush at the idea of actually getting married to Hadrian. Of having a wedding like the women have at home.

Hadrian opens the window and I peer down into the depths of the night. *Not great.* A cold breeze flows in and I shiver. I get the second sweater and pull it on.

“We have to walk a little along the edge.” He points at the stone ledge under the window. “There is a hidden ladder carved out in the marble. It’s quite the jump down, but I’ll go first.”

The ledge is a little wider than a standard ruler. “What if I fall?” I’m prone to trip over even flat spacious floors.

Hadrian runs his hand over my back in a soothing motion. “Then you’ll fall in my arms.”

My heart skips a beat. Now even my heart is tripping over its own rhythm.

Hadrian moves through the window and steps onto the ledge. He lends me one of his big hands and I swing one leg out of the window and place it on the stone edge. I have half a mind to go back, but my darn curiosity is nagging at me.

I get my two feet on the ledge. With one hand I’m holding on to Hadrian and with the other I have a death grip on the window.

The sun has dipped behind the horizon, but the sky has not yet darkened completely. The cold wind blows my ponytail and the scent of the gardens around me. The ledge is a little wider than I expected. I quickly look back up when I stare too long into the daunting abyss.

Hadrian steps backward and lightly pulls on my hand.

My grip on the window only increases. “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

He deftly walks backward as if he has eyes in the back of his head. “I know what I’m doing, come on.”

I shake my head.

“Let go of the window, Emma.”

My fingers let go one by one at his command, but I quickly place them against the wall structure of the palace. Hadrian takes another step and I do the same. Moving an inch forward.

“Remember when I said that dark, confined spaces are not my favorite thing in the world?”

A smirk tugs at the side of his mouth. “Yeah.”

I take a deep breath and keep my eyes high. “Well, they seem lovely compared to this.”

Hadrian chuckles and takes more steps backward. I follow him step for tiny step. He seems so sure of himself and it makes me breathe easier.

“We can get down here.”

I look at where ‘here’ is. We’re at a corner that connects one of the towers with the palace walls. The walls are carved with intricate designs. At first glance, it looks like two rows of decorative wolf heads, but upon closer inspection, there are deep dents carved out where the mouths are. The holes are spaced out enough so one could use them to climb up or down.

“You are kidding right?” I feel my short-founded bravery blow away in the wind.

“It’s not that hard.” Hadrian lets go of my hand and I move closer to the wall. Hadrian shows how he leisurely steps down. Why is it that Hadrian with his bulky frame is so agile and stealthy? He should be slow and lumbering.

I stretch my neck to look and swallow the fear in my throat as I watch him move down. Hadrian lets himself fall when the steps end and effortlessly sticks the landing. *He makes it look so easy, so annoying.*

I take a deep breath and repeat the movements at an agonizingly slow pace. When I reach the last step, I’m still hanging ten feet in the air.

“What were you thinking? I cannot jump down from this!”

“Let go, Emma.”

“I can’t” I hold tighter to the wall and pray to the Moon goddess that I don’t fall. I figure that I should pray to her since this is her jurisdiction.

“You can.”

I grit my teeth. “No, I'm not a seven-foot-tall werewolf that can jump on anything he likes.”

“I’m not seven-foot-tall. You said you trusted me.” Hadrian counters from below me. I look down and he has a daring glint in his eyes.

“That was a lie.”

He growls and for a second it is quiet. “Don’t make me climb up there and spank those words out of you.” He reaches a hand for the step beside my calf. “Either option is fine with me.”

The fact that he can reach for me calms me down. *Maybe I can do this.* I let myself sink down and Hadrian grips me around my ribs.

He slowly brings me to the ground. My body slides along his when he turns me in his arms. “That’s it, such a good girl.”

I scoff. “I’m not a dog.” But a flush starts from the crown of my head to my ankles and betrays the effect his words have on me.

I move away from him and he lets me. Hadrian takes his shirt off and my eyes widen when I get a glimpse of his chiseled torso. “What are you doing?” I look around to see if there aren’t any guards around.

“I said I was going to show you my wolf.” He says as he unbuckles his trousers, drops them and steps out of them.

His manhood stands tall. Thick veins run along the length and to the large swollen head. It looks eager, it looks able.

*That was inside me.* I expect to remember the pain, but there is only a wanting ache.

“My eyes are up here Emma. That was not what I was talking about.”

My eyes snap to his and it is warmer out here than I expected it to be. My body is burning up in these two sweaters.

His eyes are like molten gold. "Unless we are?”

I shake my head. “Nope.” Nothing has changed in that aspect. Maybe just that my body is screaming harder for his touch every minute that I’m near him, but other than that, nothing changed.

Hadrian tries to school his features to hide his disappointment. He walks away and creates a space between us. It seems both literal and metaphorical.

I hear bones snap and I gasp loudly. His skin turns into fur as black as night. The transformation only takes two seconds and Hadrian changes before me into a massive black wolf.

A *familiar* black wolf.

I gasp. “Nero?”