JК
Danse Macabre :: Гамильтон Лорел
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«Which council members don't believe it?»
«Since I am forbidden to go near the council, how would I know that?»
«The same way you know what Belle Morte thinks.»
He gave that smile again. I think it was his I'm-not-telling-you smile.
«You need to feed again, Ms. Blake, as do I. The good mother fed upon us both.»
«She's not good, and she was never your mother.»
He made that hand gesture again, the one that passed for a shrug. «She was mother to what I am now.»
I couldn't argue with that, so I didn't try. «You wanted to know if she's waking; she is. You say you wanted to know whether Jean-Claude was a power strong enough for you to call him master.»
«You do not believe that I seek a master?»
«I believe that the only master you've ever acknowledged is lying in a room somewhere in Europe, haunting my dreams.»
He took a deep breath, sighing. Vamps didn't need to breathe, only air enough to talk, but I'd found that most of them sigh, from time to time, as if it's a habit that even a few millennia can't break.
Damian's hand tightened almost painfully on the back of my neck. I was being utterly calm; what was the deal? I started to look up at him, but I felt it. He let me feel it. I was sucking his energy. Taking back the energy I gave him to live. Shit.
There was a knock on the door.
Claudia looked at me. «See who it is,» I said.
She checked before opening the door, good bodyguard. It was Nathaniel. She opened the door for him. He came through with his hair still back in its braid, but he'd lost his shirt and vest somewhere. His upper body gleamed with sweat, and the amethyst and diamond collar on his neck glittered as he glided into the room.
«How did you lose your shirt?» I asked.
«I got hot,» he said, and grinned.
«I'll say.»
He walked toward me still smiling, but there was worry around the edges of his eyes. A stranger wouldn't have seen it, but I'd spent months reading his face. He walked wide around the desk, so he'd be out of reach of Merlin. He'd learned to be a better person, and a worse victim, living with me. He came around, and put his hand on my arm, underneath Asher's jacket. Having them both touch me was as if someone had stuck an electric plug in my spine. It made me jump, but underneath the rush of power was the feeling that it was going just one way, into me. Shit. I was really, really going to have to get better at this energy thing.
«You are very new at being the center of this triumvirate of power,» Merlin said, like he was certain of it, and like it was interesting to him.
«Yeah, there's a learning curve.
«Which council members don't believe it?»
«Since I am forbidden to go near the council, how would I know that?»
«The same way you know what Belle Morte thinks.»
He gave that smile again. I think it was his I'm-not-telling-you smile.
«You need to feed again, Ms. Blake, as do I. The good mother fed upon us both.»
«She's not good, and she was never your mother.»
He made that hand gesture again, the one that passed for a shrug. «She was mother to what I am now.»
I couldn't argue with that, so I didn't try. «You wanted to know if she's waking; she is. You say you wanted to know whether Jean-Claude was a power strong enough for you to call him master.»
«You do not believe that I seek a master?»
«I believe that the only master you've ever acknowledged is lying in a room somewhere in Europe, haunting my dreams.»
He took a deep breath, sighing. Vamps didn't need to breathe, only air enough to talk, but I'd found that most of them sigh, from time to time, as if it's a habit that even a few millennia can't break.
Damian's hand tightened almost painfully on the back of my neck. I was being utterly calm; what was the deal? I started to look up at him, but I felt it. He let me feel it. I was sucking his energy. Taking back the energy I gave him to live. Shit.
There was a knock on the door.
Claudia looked at me. «See who it is,» I said.
She checked before opening the door, good bodyguard. It was Nathaniel. She opened the door for him. He came through with his hair still back in its braid, but he'd lost his shirt and vest somewhere. His upper body gleamed with sweat, and the amethyst and diamond collar on his neck glittered as he glided into the room.
«How did you lose your shirt?» I asked.
«I got hot,» he said, and grinned.
«I'll say.»
He walked toward me still smiling, but there was worry around the edges of his eyes. A stranger wouldn't have seen it, but I'd spent months reading his face. He walked wide around the desk, so he'd be out of reach of Merlin. He'd learned to be a better person, and a worse victim, living with me. He came around, and put his hand on my arm, underneath Asher's jacket. Having them both touch me was as if someone had stuck an electric plug in my spine. It made me jump, but underneath the rush of power was the feeling that it was going just one way, into me. Shit. I was really, really going to have to get better at this energy thing.
«You are very new at being the center of this triumvirate of power,» Merlin said, like he was certain of it, and like it was interesting to him.
«Yeah, there's a learning curve.