Page 84 of Salem’s Rise

My hair is down, curled softly over my shoulders, and I’m wearing the nicest jewelry I own, a pair of small, thin gold earrings my mother and Josh gave me for Christmas a few years ago.

I feel beautiful.

Though I’d never admit it out loud, I’m curious to know if Silas will agree.

I’m still trying to decide what that says about my sanity when something brushes against my ankle. I look down to see the black cat with yellow eyes, gazing up at me as though he’s been waiting all evening to see me. Snow has gathered along his back and between his ears, but he appears entirely unconcerned by the cold. His eyes remain fixed on me with the same peculiar attentiveness as always.

I haven’t seen him in weeks and am happy to see he’s okay. I was a bit curious where he went, though I assumed his owners—whoever they were—were keeping him indoors more as the colder winter months of New England approached.

“Well, hello there, boy,” I say, crouching carefully, scratching beneath his chin.

He begins to purr with enough force that I feel the vibration through my glove. Again, I am struck by how much he resembles the cat in the painting at Lucien’s house at Blackthorn Manor, though I know logically it cannot be the same cat.

Headlights sweep across the quad and a long black town car glides to the curb. The chauffeur gets out, but before he can reach the rear door, it opens and Silas steps onto the snow. My heart does something violent and deeply unhelpful as he comes into view.

He is breathtaking in a tailored black tuxedo with a black shirt open at the collar rather than fastened with a tie. The lack of formality makes him look more human, less like the heir to a dangerous secret society that may or may not want me dead.

His gaze finds me and stops. For a moment, he simply stares, his eyes widening slightly as they take me in and sweep over me. Then he seems to catch himself and walks around the car, a frown settling over his handsome face.

“You’re outside,” he says. “Alone.” His jaw tightens before he adds, “At night.”

“I’m ten feet from the dorm.”

“That’s still outside, Mercer,” he says. “I warned you not to take any unnecessary chances. If you need to go somewhere alone after dark—don’t. Call me and I’ll make arrangements for someone to accompany you.”

“I was under the impression you were giving me a ride to the gala, not giving me a lecture.”

His lips twitch. “The two are not mutually exclusive.”

The cat presses impatiently against my knee.

“Stop being rude, Blackhollow,” I say, glancing down and smiling at the creature, “and say hi to my friend.”

Silas follows my gaze, and he stills again, surprise flickering in his dark eyes. It lasts only a heartbeat, so slight that I might have missed it if I hadn’t spent the past several weeks paying close attention to him and the emotions he tries to conceal.

The cat rises onto his hind legs and plants both front paws against Silas’s knee. Silas lets out a quiet laugh and scoops him into his arms with surprising ease.

“Hey, buddy,” he says.

“You know him?”

“You could say that. I’ve… seen him around campus.” The cat settles against Silas’s chest as though they’ve done this a hundred times. Silas scratches him behind one ear. “Hello, boy. You look well.”

I stare, the tenderness in his voice catching me unprepared.

He glances up at me. “What?”

“I just never imagined you as an animal person.” Something warm tugs at me at the sight. “It’s adorable. You’re holding a snow-covered cat like an infant.”

His brows draw together. “He started it.”

“That defense is not helping.”

Silas looks back down at the cat snuggled in his arms and smiles. Not the faint, controlled grin he uses when mocking someone. A real smile, warm and almost boyish. In that moment, it is impossible to connect the man in front of me to the man who ordered me kidnapped.

“I like animals,” he says. “I find they’re considerably more tolerable than most people.”

The admission catches me pleasantly off guard. “Me too,” I agree. “I begged Josh for a pet when we were kids, but he said feeding ourselves was expensive enough.”