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“Okay.” She disappeared into the hallway.
As Ethan moved the opposite direction, stepping down into the living room, Davido crossed to take Bernice from Quinlan’s arms. “I’ll just go check on the linguine.” He moved swiftly so that within a couple of seconds, Ethan was alone with the vampire who’d trained him both as a Guardsman and how to govern his realm.
Quinlan just shook his head, his hands planted on his hips. “Fuck. So, this is what a blood rose does to a mastyr.” His deep voice resonated through the room.
“Welcome to my nightmare. You felt it though, what she was?”
“The moment I saw her, it was as though I recognized her and believe me that was a tornado that drew me in. I didn’t have time to think especially when she headed in my direction. Ethan, a thousand apologies.”
“This wasn’t your fault or hers. Nobody’s, except that I’m damn sorry for tackling you.”
Quinlan grinned, a rare thing for him. “We’ll both have to pay, though, for the damage done to the building. You didn’t see it, but we busted a wall up pretty good. There might even be a problem with the joists.”
“Well, that’s because you’re one big motherfucker.”
Quinlan laughed but soon grew somber. “I won’t be able to stay here. I’ve dreaded seeing her walk through the door. Sweet Goddess, the smell of her blood! But do you like her, this woman of yours?”
“She’s not my woman. Why does everyone have to keep saying that?” Of course remembering the things he’d said to Samantha in the middle of all the recent outrageous sex sort of belied his own constant protestations.
“You didn’t answer my question: Do you like her? Is she a decent kind of woman?” He frowned as he asked.
“She…she’s not typical. But the truth is, I don’t know. I barely know her.”
“Yet, you trust her. Even I can see that much.”
Ethan nodded. He searched around trying to figure out how best to explain what he felt about Samantha, what his deepest frequencies told him about her.
“You know what Davido said?”
Ethan shifted his gaze back to Quinlan. “What?”
“That when she looks at you, she sees you, not just the trappings, but you.”
“Yeah, I think she does.”
Quinlan elaborated. “It’s as though you’re suddenly the most important person in the world. She did it just now, to me, when she looked at me.”
Ethan bristled, his fists clenching, the muscles of his arms flexing.
But Quinlan laughed. “I’m just jerking your chain, but I will apologize since I can see you’re about ready to stroke-out all over again.”
Ethan met and held his gaze. “The thing is, if you’re around her…”
Quinlan nodded. “I know. So long as you haven’t permanently bound her, something Vojalie told me about, then I’ll be driven toward her as well.
“So, put me in the field for now. Let me work patrols with Finn, for a night or two. I won’t be able to stay away from Grochaire longer than that, but I think I should be here to help settle this thing with Ry and the Invictus he seems to have under his command.”
Ethan’s first instinct was to send Quinlan back to Grochaire Realm on the double. But that was all about Samantha and not about what was best for Bergisson Realm. He wasn’t kidding when he told Samantha that his realm came first.
He nodded. “I agree that I need you here. Work with Finn. He’ll know where to fit you in with the current patrol schedule.”
*** *** ***
By the time Samantha returned to the main living area, Quinlan had left the house. Without meaning to, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. She held no animosity toward the oversized, handsome vampire, but she was as drawn to him as she was to Ethan, the pull of the mastyr’s need hard on her.
Ethan met her at the stairs and explained the situation. “Are you okay?” he asked, his brow wrinkled.
“I’m fine, just trying to find my sea legs.”
He turned and gestured with a wave of his hand to the dining area, off the kitchen. “Vojalie has dinner ready. An asparagus cream pasta.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“It is. With a nice German wine.”
She glanced at him, trying to blend the concepts of vampire, pasta, and wine. Of course she’d grown up knowing about vampires, but she’d always supposed them to be less civilized than this.
A baby-monitor on the table kept the parents relaxed as baby Bernice did her sleeping work.
The conversation was less satisfactory, however, since Ry came up more than once, his defection, and even the possibility that he’d been working with the Invictus for a long time.
Samantha tried not to think about Ry too much, or any of it really, but focused instead on what she needed to do next. The conservatory pulled at her. The songs had spoken to her from the beginning.
“You keep glancing in the direction of the upper quarters?” Vojalie smiled as she spoke, her warm brown eyes glinting. “Are you thinking of the crystal apex?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not surprised. I’ve often thought that with the right fae, the configuration had possibilities.”
Samantha turned toward Ethan. “What made you design it that way?”
“I didn’t. It was your mother’s idea, her design.”
“You never told me that?”
Ethan smiled, that big smile of his. “Sorry. But ever since I’ve met you, I’ve had a lot of other things occupying my thoughts.”
Images of their recent coupling in the grotto flashed through her mind. When he reached for her hand beneath the table, her fingers met his readily and her heart thumped in her chest. “I guess we both have.”
He cleared his throat and after giving her fingers a squeeze, he withdrew his hand. “Yes, your mother designed most of the interior of this house. Of course that was before Patrick died. We were very good friends once, even before I became mastyr of Bergisson. ”
“Until she left and the disaster happened at Sweet Gorge.”
He nodded and set his fork and spoon down. He sat back in his chair. “I wish it were otherwise.”
“I wish I understood.”
“Understanding will come in its own time,” Davido said brightly. “And I want another glass of this excellent wine.” He picked the bottle up and refilled his goblet, topping others on request.
After dinner, Vojalie and Davido retired to their suite to tend to Bernice, while Samantha drew Ethan to the conservatory.
