The Red Lily (Vampire Blood #2)(53)

       
         
       
        

"Losing you," he answered, the confession churning his stomach into knots.

She simply smiled and lifted up to press a soft kiss to his lips, a frown pinching her brow as she lay her head back on the pillow. Nikolai realized the discomfort she must be in. He shot out of the bed and padded across the room to a vanity where a pitcher of water and ewer sat. He poured the water into the bowl and soaked the rag that had been left for washing. Warming it between his hands, he walked back. Sienna watched him intently, a smirk tilting her pretty face, a look he hadn't seen before.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just enjoying the scenery."

He chuckled, pulling back the covers. "Are you now?"

"It's quite lovely." Her eyes roved down his naked body.

"I hope to offer the view to you as often as possible," he said, gently wiping and pressing the rag between her legs.

She bit her lip as he finished his ministrations, then folded the rag and set it aside. She scooted over to let him back under the coverlet. As soon as he was situated, she cuddled up close with her head upon his chest. Nikolai chuckled.

"What is it?" she asked, exhaling a sweet sigh.

"I've never done this before."

She popped up, her eyes wide in shock. "What? You mean … "

He pulled her back where she was, warm and soft and perfect in his arms. "I mean … nestled with a woman in bed. After. Or at any time for that matter."

She giggled. "Well, I've never snuggled with a man in bed. So we're even."

"Bloody hell, woman. Don't put that image in my head. I want to lacerate the poor sot who doesn't even exist."

"Well, you mentioned other women," she noted with a sharp edge.

"Look at me, Sienna."

She raised her chin, bending her head back, her body still molded to his.

"There is no other woman. There never will be another. There is only you."

Her moss-green eyes softened as she brushed a lock of his hair back with her fingers, then lay her head on his chest. As he combed a hand through her silky strands, falling like tendrils of fire across the pastel blue coverlet, he heard her whisper back, "Only you."

Those two small words echoed through his mind, pulsing bright and strong, then wound around his heart, constricting so tight, he thought his chest would split open.

How had it come to this? How had he opened that door and let her into his heart? She was a mortal, flesh and blood, and yet she held him captive like no one in his entire life. Not even his darling father, when he was still alive, could wield the kind of power this auburn-haired beauty did. The crux of it all was she truly had no idea. And perhaps that was for the best. 

He'd kept that dark monster from crawling out of his cave for an entire century. The beast that crept in the shadows of his soul, longing for the moment to rise and show the world what wrath and bloody ruin truly looked like. The one who'd branded him a murderer as a young vampire. He could never let that animal loose again. Especially not now, not with the soft and delicate angel clinging to him for protection, smelling of sweet lavender and the deep woods where no one went. The woman whose quiet vow of only you had tilted his world and slammed home the reality that he could never be good enough but he'd damn well spend her lifetime trying.

No. He would keep his foul secret and go with it to his grave, if he ever should meet a mortal fate. He could never tell her the truth, lest those trusting green eyes widen in horror and turn away from him in shame. That, he could not bear. Death would be better.

"Go to sleep," she murmured against his chest, jarring him back to the well-lit chamber. "We have a long journey tonight. Rest with me."

He kissed the crown of her head, inhaling her sweetness, then obeyed her will, falling into the most sound sleep he'd had in over a century.





Chapter Fifteen

Sienna pulled the second glove tight as they continued to wait for the duke's man to return. The duke paced in front of the popping fire. Nikolai stood stone-like near the door, fully dressed and ready to depart, but without the thick winter attire she wore. She still wondered at how vampires could withstand such cold without hat or gloves, but then immortality had its rewards.

Immortality. Her heart clenched. She was beginning to understand her grandmother's sorrow. To love a vampire was to love someone you could not keep. Was it love? She felt as if she'd been running in the woods and tripped on an unseen root only to fall over a cliff that seemed to have no end. There was no way to stop herself. She glanced at him to find his gaze fixed on her as if he could divine her thoughts. One look, that was all it took for her pulse to trip faster.