“I would love to go to a cave with you. Do you still make jewelry?”
“I have plans to begin again, now that I have found you. Looking at you sitting there with your hair spilling around you and the firelight dancing over your breasts, you inspire me. I would make a necklace of fire and ice to lay around your throat.”
His tone created a very real sensation of cool gems on her skin, so much so that she reached to touch her throat, expecting to find a necklace of gold, diamonds, and rubies. “I would love to have something you designed.”
“I will make you something beautiful to go with your skin and hair. It would be such a pleasure for me.”
“Your nephew makes jewelry?” Antonietta loved feeling his eyes on her. She didn’t need sight to know he was watching her. She was past embarrassment. She wanted his gaze on her. She wanted him to feel ravenous hunger for her. She was feeling it for him. It was even becoming difficult to keep her mind on the conversation. She was too busy thinking of straddling him right there in the chair in front of the fireplace.
“My understanding is he has begun to work as an apprentice. I have not seen him in some time. But Eleanor also has young Josef, and he is another story altogether. His birth mother was quite old when she had him, and she died within an hour of his birth. Eleanor and Vlad immediately offered to take him. Deidre, Vlad’s sister, and her lifemate, Tienn, were chosen at first to watch over him, but Deidre lost so many children Tienn was afraid it would prove to be too much if the baby did not survive. It is very hard on the parents when they lose so many children. Many of our children do not survive beyond the first few months.”
“I couldn’t imagine losing Margurite and she isn’t even my child,” Antonietta said. “How sad for your sister and sister-in-law. So many people have children who really don’t want them, and yet so many want them that can’t have them.”
“What about you? Do you want children?”
She shrugged. “There was a time I dreamt of having children. I think most women do, Byron, but I had responsibilities, and my career was taking off. I didn’t find a man who appealed to me as a lifetime partner and, although I considered raising a child on my own, I decided it would be cheating the child. I often go on tours, I’m in demand when one of my operas is chosen, and I am always involved in my family’s business. It leaves little time for a child.”
“I see.”
For some reason Antonietta immediately felt defensive. It was a silly reaction, when his words held no inflection whatsoever, but she had the feeling he was misinterpreting things she said. Over the years, she had learned to live without sight, judging reactions by voices and even tension in the air, but she couldn’t do that with Byron, and it made her feel vulnerable and off balance. She pulled her hand out of his, aware he could feel her pulse jumping in her wrist. “Do you? That would be a miracle, when few people have a clue what my life has been like.”
“But then I am not most people, am I?” There was the merest trace of mocking amusement in his voice.
“No, you’re not,” she agreed. “You are someone very special. If you are not Jaguar and you are not quite human, what are you? What exactly? And don’t just put me off with some strange answer that doesn’t make sense.”
“I am Carpathian, of the mountains in that region. My people are as old as time and we are of the earth. You have your legends of vampires and werewolves and jaguars, and we belong to that realm.” He answered honestly in the way of lifemates. His gaze didn’t leave her face, judging her expression there in the darkness.
“I know you’re different, Byron. It’s funny, I can accept the thought of Jaguars so easily, but a werewolf or vampire seems preposterous.” She laughed softly at herself. “Why would that be? Why would my mind so easily accept one as reality but refuse to give the possibility of credence to the other?”
“A Carpathian is neither werewolf nor vampire. We are a species of people near extinction and fighting for our place in the world.”
She turned his words over carefully in her mind, examining them for signs of a hidden meaning. “Are you like either of those species? You must be a shape-shifter just as a Jaguar is. I’ve done a tremendous amount of research on the legends and mythology of the Jaguar people. Can you shift your shape? I can’t. I feel it reaching for me, and I know its somewhere inside of me, but on command, I can’t really do it. I have summoned the power of the creature but never really managed to bring the power out all the way.”
“Yes, I can shift.”
She hadn’t really expected him to admit it. The idea was exhilarating and frightening at the same time. She took a deep breath. “Can you fly?”
“Yes. You know I can. I didn’t erase your memory of it.”
She was in the dark, where she had grown most comfortable, and she waited there for several heartbeats in silence to give her mind time to assimilate what he was telling her. Flying. Her heart soared at the idea of it, even when her human mind set limitations. “That would be such an enormous gift.” Her lashes lifted. She couldn’t see him, but she looked directly at him. “For a gift so wonderful, there must be a terrible price.”
Byron looked at her and wanted to laugh. She was sitting across from him. His lifemate. Her bare skin gleaming in the firelight. His world of color dancing in front of his eyes. His emotions so raw and intense he could barely control them. What price had he paid? Centuries of a bleak existence. A world of gray and despair. The relentless whisper of evil calling to him. The endless minutes and hours and days and years of being truly alone. Her very existence had wiped it all away in a moment.
“I live, Antonietta. I have a way of life, and I live it. It is neither good nor bad to me to be the way I am. I simply am. I accept who I am, and I am proud of my people. We have honor and loyalty and many other traits of strength, but we also have weaknesses just as any race. I cannot walk in the sun. It would harm me. That is why I cannot be with you to guard you through certain hours of the day.” His voice was very matter-of-fact. “I see beauty in the night, it is my world, my existence, and I love it. I want to share my world with you so you are never afraid in it. So you see its beauty for yourself and not just for me.”
Antonietta didn’t know if it was what he said to her or how he said it, but she melted inside. Craved him. Wanted to wrap herself up inside of him, deep in his heart and soul. And she wanted to see his world and experience it. His voice nearly purred when he called the night beautiful. She lived in darkness, and she wanted to see it that way.
Antonietta couldn’t resist the temptation any longer. She simply stood and took the few steps to stand in front of him. Byron didn’t disappoint her. He reached for her just as she imagined he would, his hand sliding up her thigh, caressing the inside of her leg with graceful, expert fingers. Her body responded instantly with a heated liquid welcome, an eager anticipation of the sheer magic waiting for her.
His hands urged her closer, and she went, standing between his legs while his palm found her wet channel, pressing heavily in exploration. Flashes of light burst behind her eyes, a show of brilliant color, while her body pulsed with pleasure. His finger slipped inside, and her muscles clenched around him.
“When I’m with you, Byron, you make me feel like I can fly with you.” She had to catch his head for balance when her legs threatened to give out. Her hips pushed against his hand, wanting more, wanting him.
Impatient, she simply moved forward, straddling his thighs so that he had no choice but to remove his hand and allow her what she most needed. Her hunger was rising rapidly, almost ravenous, an insatiable appetite that could only be appeased momentarily. She settled her body over his. He was thick and hard and pierced her sheath slowly, filling her, stretching her, until the tight friction was incredible and perfect and everything she wanted.