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to stare up at the specks of stars in the night sky. “But I’m not sorry that you’re who you are. If you weren’t the princess, we would never have met.”
    Our fingers entwined and he gave my palm a reassuring squeeze. My body was hyperfocused on Elias’s nearness. I felt the slight touch of his legs against mine, the rough calluses on his palms, and the heat of his skin.
    My mouth twisted as I tried to find words. I should agree with Elias’s sentiment, at least. I really liked Elias. But my life had been so much simpler before I knew about my dad and vampires. “Uh, yeah,” I said finally.
    “You don’t sound convinced, my lady.”
    I loved it when he called me that. It was so old-fashioned and sweet. “It’s not that,” I assured him. “It’s all this other stuff.”
    Wisps of clouds threaded in front of the thin silver crescent of the moon. The shingles on the roof pinched my back slightly, but the feeling of being high above everything eclipsed any physical discomfort.
    “Other stuff?” he prompted.
    “Nikolai, you know, and—” But I trailed off because I didn’t know how to explain what it was like to be half vampire, half witch, but not enough of either to really fit anywhere properly.
    Before I could say something more articulate, Elias pulled his hand away. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
    “It doesn’t matter. It would never work.”
    The instant it was out of my mouth, I knew I’d said the exact wrong thing. I should have denied being in love with Nik; had I really just agreed that I was? At any rate, Elias sat up, steepling his hands on his knees. His entire posture was agitated; if he were a cat, his back muscles would have rippled.
    I pulled myself upright too. I thought about touching his shoulders, but decided I didn’t want to see him flinch away from me. “I mean—that is, what I meant to say was I don’t know how I feel about Nik. It’s so complicated.”
    “I see.” His tone was cold, distant.
    A smarter person would have stopped talking, but I didn’t know how to close the rift I sensed opening between us and I desperately wanted to fix it. I didn’t want to lose both Elias and Nik in one day! “I feel the same way about you. Not the complicated part—well, actually, you are complicated—but what I’m saying is ... uh, I like you.”
    I thought it was a pretty intense admission, but the hot glance he shot me implied he thought I was full of shit.
    “No, really, Elias. I do.” I tried to infuse my words with the weight of everything I couldn’t say. “Why do you think things are complicated with Nikolai?”
    This softened his gaze a bit. “Are you saying you fought about me?”
    “Well, no. It was more about the vampire thing as a whole, and the honor guard in specific, but you’re a big part of that.”
    “Ah.” He sounded distant again.
    When was I going to learn how to talk to guys without completely messing everything up? “Let me try this again,” I offered.
    From his reluctant smile, I think Elias would have let me make another attempt, but of course, at that very moment Nikolai’s Toyota pulled up in front of my house.
    We both recognized the car immediately.
    He was early! I opened my mouth to offer an explanation, but the look on Elias’s face stopped me.
    “What is he doing here tonight? This is supposed to be our night.”
    “Um,” I started, but how could I explain in a way that didn’t end up with me duplicitously planning two dates in one night? Anyway, Elias was having none of it. He stood up. With inhuman bounds, he leaped the distance of the roof. In seconds, he was standing next to the tower’s cap, one hand resting against its peaked, conical roof. Elias stared down at the car, as if still hoping it belonged to someone else.
    Below, I could hear Nikolai’s car door slam shut. In the quiet of the night, the sound of his bootheels on the sidewalk reverberated loudly.
    “It is him,” Elias confirmed through clenched