Chapter 70: 70__His Vampire Sorceress forest rabbit

A hard shove had Rogan moving a few steps back as Maia shrugged out of his arms. She spun around, staring at him with wide eyes, the once light grey iris now churning with the purple of his sorcery and the black crystals of his magic.

Rogan stared into it for a moment and then he finally understood. He understood why she’d called his eyes beautiful the first time she’d seen them. Now that he saw the reflection of himself in her, he saw it. The beauty in his darkness.

Compelled by some power she currently had over him, Rogan’s feet moved forward, wanting to be closer to her, wanting to look closely into her eyes.

She was scared and confused. He understood and it was okay. He wanted to tell her that.

He was a single hand reach away from touching her face as she gazed up at him. Rogan reached out for her and, the moment he blinked, she disappeared.

The empty space before him was nothing more than dark air and Rogan stared at it, barely moving, his hand held stiffly in mid-air.

“Oh, my God!” came a scream from downstairs.

Looking at his hand in mid-air, he only pressed his mouth firmly together as he listened to her freaking out downstairs.

“Oh, my God!” she screeched. “What just happened? What was that?!”

Rogan sighed. How could he have forgotten? Mixing his soul into hers didn’t just mean he’d given her her life back. It meant he’d given her some of his abilities.

That, in turn, meant... she could and probably would, vanish out of his arms like this whenever she wanted.

“Bloody hell’s sake,,,” he muttered. Just the thought of Maia often vanishing out of his arms after seducing him into a puddle of desire threatened to drive him crazy. And she would do it, being the mischievous forest rabbit that she was.

“Sorcerer!” she screeched from downstairs.

Slowly, Rogan walked over to the window and lowered himself onto the sill, deep in thought. There was no other way. He’d have to make a potion to subdue her powers.

It seemed mean, but mean was what he was and there was no guilt over the fact! The human Maia nearly drove him out of his mind, just how much stress would she cause him now that she had powers?! No. He had to do something about this.

The sound of tiny stomping feet sounded through the house and, soon, she appeared upstairs, running straight into the room.

“Sorcerer! Did you see?!”

She stopped before him, her eyes wide like two full moons on a night of magic.

Rogan sighed. He was doomed. She’d never let him take her powers away, the excitement in her eyes was too obvious. He was *doomed*!

“I flew downstairs!” Maia said with a little bounce. “Did you see?!”

“You didn’t fly,” Rogan murmured. “You transported yourself—”

“My body got all light and weird and I felt so funny inside and then my eyes g-got covered by a dark smoky blanket and then—”

“Maia.”

She blinked. “Hm?”

Rogan pressed his lips together, exasperated at the thought of dealing with a future Vampire Sorceress Maia. “Let’s just go home.”

Without another word, he moved past her, taking her hand in the process. When he began tugging her, Maia dug her heels into the floor, making Rogan stop.

He looked at her over his shoulder, noting the tiny line between her frowning brows.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“Hm?”

“Don't you remember?”

“Remember?” Maia asked quietly.

“Do you or do you not remember, Maia?”

She stared at him for a moment before looking at her hand in his. Silently, she shook her head.

“You don’t?”

“No. I still don’t know y—” Maia stopped speaking. It would be a lie, she knew that. It wasn’t that she didn’t know him. She knew him, her soul knew him, and she could feel that. They had a terrifyingly powerful connection, it overwhelmed her. She *knew* him, she just didn’t remember him.

Rogan looked at her lowered head, feeling the anxiety hanging around in her aura.

She still didn’t remember him. He bit the inside of his cheek as they stood silently. Never had he felt so insignificant in his life, it was nearly funny.

“Do you...do you want to stay here?” he asked her.

She didn’t answer him.

Nodding, Rogan slowly uncurled his fingers, releasing her hand.

Silently, he turned around and headed for the door.

He could but would never force her to come back with him. He wanted her to want to be with him, not to be terrified into doing so. Rogan closed his eyes as he walked. Damn, he really... *really* wanted her to want to be with him.

If she never remembered him, he would kill Laurel to feel better about it.

Only moments later, Rogan vanished from her house and found himself just outside of her portal, walking grudgingly through the forest of Geminor.

He felt like shit.

“Sorcerer.”

Freezing in his steps, Rogan stared at some bushes a few feet away before he whirled around at the sound of that voice.

Maia was right behind him! Blinking, he glanced behind her at the silent forest.

“How did...? Didn’t I just leave you in the...?”

Maia gave him a tiny smile. “I... ran after you and when I grabbed your coat, you... vanished. Somehow I vanished with you.”

Rogan was immediately bummed. “Oh, I see. So it was by accident?” He sighed. “I’ll take you back, come on.”

Maia hurriedly shook her head. “No, no, it’s fine!”

He frowned. “What do you mean? You said you wanted to stay there.”

“I want to come with you,” she told him honestly, her eyes full of a cheerful sparkle.

Rogan stared into them, reading her like a book. A coded book because he didn’t understand a thing he read. “Why?”

Maia’s fingers found each other and fiddled. “Because... well... maybe I don’t remember, but I really do feel like you’re telling the truth. I saw what happened to my eyes in the mirror and since you can do that and you know all about me and Nana... I think you’re telling the truth. So I want to go with you. If you try to hurt me, I will kill you with a bow and arrow.”

Before he could say a word or even react to her words, she took his arm and curved both of hers around it, gazing up at him. “Let’s go, Sorcerer.”

**********************

The Kingdom of Geminor was beautiful this late afternoon. The sky was a pretty pink and there was a thick rainbow curving through the fluffy white clouds.

The streets weren’t busy, but what there was to be seen of the people was enough to fascinate Maia.

It all felt so familiar to her. Like a vague memory that she just couldn't put her finger on.

She walked in a daze besides Rogan, his coat on her body falling all the way to the ground and dragging along it. On her feet were a pair of sparkly pink slippers that he’d bought for her in a fancy shoe store.

Rogan studied her as they walked, feeling as though he should take her home, but he really needed to see if he was the only one she’d forgotten or if she would fail to remember the girls at the Hostel too.

A handsome, hazel-eyed man walked by, producing a sunflower out of his palm for Maia, delighted when he saw her eyes light up with joy.

“Wow!” she breathed as the man bowed to Rogan and went on his way.

Rogan sent a mild glare at the guy’s back. Who really told him he could go about trying to woo Maia with flowers? He was lucky Rogan hadn’t broken his little neck.

“How did he do that?!” Maia gushed, throwing a glance over her shoulder at the man. She looked back at her flower in awe. “It came out of his hand!”

Rogan rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets. “He has a Gemini soul of Earth. Don’t be charmed by him, he probably has toes that look like the roots of a tree.”

Maia gaped up at him before snorting with laughter.

Rogan watched her laugh and felt his chest warm. A smile played on his mouth. He’d made her laugh.

“That’s mean,” said Maia.

Rogan nodded. “It’s true. He probably grows leaves instead of hair.”

His blunt words rewarded him with more laughter from Maia and Rogan was horrified to find that her laughter made him so happy he wanted to kiss puppies and make friends with some damn forest fairies. What an appalling reaction to a few mere giggles.

“Rogan.”

Pulled out of his thoughts by that surprisingly familiar voice, Rogan raised his gaze to its source.

He stopped in his tracks and Maia stopped beside him. He’d been so distracted, he hadn’t even realized that they’d reached the Hostel.

It wasn’t reaching the Hostel that stunned Rogan, however. It was Viktor standing right in front of him.

Behind him, Rogan saw Aiden’s royal carriage and out of it came Aiden and no one other than Kamilla.

Rogan actually scoffed as Viktor’s bride, the Queen of Onyx, really approached them, her green eyes filled with interest as they focused, not on Rogan, but on Maia.

Kamilla was finally besides her husband and Viktor firmly wrapped his hand around hers.

This was when Aiden had to formally announce their presence to Rogan, despite it being on the street before many staring eyes, but Rogan saw that he was too busy gaping at Maia in surprise.

With a tired sigh, Rogan removed his own hand from his pocket and wrapped it around Maia’s, tugging her close to his side.

“The Royals of Onyx,” he murmured. “To what do I owe this fucking pleasure?”