more time, she told herself. See him just once.
She could handle that.
In a ruffle of night air, he was there.
“You keep turning up,” she said as he climbed over the ledge.
His appearance on the rooftop might have upset her confidence somewhat, because when viewing the entirety of this guy from a distance, the effect on her system was elaborate.
The third Blood Knight to have ridden forth from Castle Broceliande’s massive iron gates no longer donned the golden armor he’d once worn in honor of his Quest. He didn’t bear the Knights’ red-striped ebony crest of the Grail protectors. But he was always mesmerizing.
The modern duster coat and dark jeans suited him. So did the shorn hair that now only brushed his collar. Where she was white, he was bronze. His luster hadn’t faded the way hers had. At times, over the years, she had envied his polished allure.
“Yes. About that,” he said, coming closer. “You did leave a trail.”
“Impossible,” she argued.
“Fortuitous,” he corrected. “Because I believe we have some unfinished business to talk over that rules out distance for the time being.”
“Misguided persistence will get you nowhere,” Avery warned. “Neither will flattery, so don’t bother. The fact is, you have followed me again.”
“I did warn you that until I know what and who you are, this city might be at risk and I would be responsible.”
“I’m no predator. I would have thought you’d have figured that out by now,” she said.
“I don’t believe you are a predator. I’m just not sure what you are or why my soul recognizes yours in some way. I’m not sure I can rest until I know why.”
Avery took a wide stance with both arms loose at her sides. Inside, she was fluttering again.
“That’s quite a line about souls. Do women usually fall for it?”
“Mortal women sometimes do.” His tone was light. The situation wasn’t.
Avery stopped short of asking him how many humans he’d tried that soul-to-soul business on. She wiped risqué images of him in bed with mortal females from her mind quickly. This bastard was charm incarnate when he wanted to be, and he was turning that charm her way. However, it had been many years since she’d trusted anyone.
“Then I suggest you find someone more amenable to bedroom talk,” she said. “The night isn’t over. If you hurry, you might find a taker.”
After a pause, he said, “Can we cut the crap? I’m not attacking you. I’m merely asking a few pertinent questions.”
“I told you I’m not in the habit of telling strangers anything about myself and made it clear I owe you nothing. What don’t you get, Blood Knight? Why can’t you honor my privacy?”
“I think you have some responsibility to come clean. There aren’t many of us, or beings much like us. I can feel the power you possess. What I can’t do is place it. I need to know if you’re in any way like me.”
“Nothing like you,” she replied to get him off her back. That was the truth. She couldn’t lie. Not outright. Neither of them could, because of that touch of the heavens they possessed.
Her answer clearly frustrated him. His hands opened and closed, forming and reforming fists as if he might wring the answers from her that he needed. Power meant danger in his world, and as he’d said, she was an unknown. Yet understanding how he felt and doing something to help him, at her own expense, were things on opposite shores of a vast ocean she dared not try to cross.
“Your soul resonates on a similar frequency to mine, which leads me to believe we have some things in common,” he said.
Yes. We have that damn castle in common.
We also have the vows that made us into what we are.
You know nothing of my part in that.
“I’ve seen you before,” he went on. “I’m sure I’ve felt your presence on the edges of my existence in the past.”
That news surprised Avery. If he knew of her presence, she hadn’t held up her end of the vow she’d taken to never allow the Knights to find her or the truth of their origins until she was ready to spill that news. They might not have accomplished the goals their Makers had set for them if they had known the truth about her and what their Makers had done to assure that the Knights had significant power of their own. As it turned out, the Knights’ goals had been good ones, and still were. She couldn’t argue with that.
“Your Makers are long gone, I assume,” she said, without the probing tone the remark deserved. “Nevertheless, you carry on as though still bound to the oaths you once took.”
The eyes studying her flashed with blue fire. “What do you know of the Makers?”
“Rumor. Legend. Fantasy lore,” Avery replied. “Legends say the Blood Knights were created by three magicians who were also the earliest form of what we know of today as vampires. If that’s true, it would explain a lot about you.”
“Rumor is it? What would a bunch of old untruths say about me?”
Avery wiped a finger across her mouth to remind him she had seen the fangs. He watched her carefully with the eyes of a hawk.
“Does the term fantasy also explain you?” he asked.
“I’m sure the parameters of fantasy lore cover us both.”
“You had a Maker?”
“Oh, yes. An extremely powerful one.”
“So why are you in pain?” he asked.
The several feet of distance separating them had not been enough. Somehow he had picked up on the wicked pain that underlined every damn day of her existence and was assailing her now. Seeing this man added to her discomfort, the way seeing him always had. Her heart was beating fast. Speaking was difficult.
“Possibly I can help,” he suggested. “I’ve learned a thing or two about pain and healing.”
“You can help by leaving me alone to do what I came here to do.”
“Other than the tattoos, you mean?”
“Yes,” Avery warily admitted. “Other than that.”
She dropped the hand that again had automatically returned to her mouth to trace the lingering impression of their kiss, because this Knight missed little and was analyzing every move she made. She had to be more careful. That was a fact.
She didn’t press home the fact that he had fangs. Surely he would have wondered about that.
“We’re to pretend nothing happened?” he asked, confirming her fears about that kiss.
“Nothing
