She lifted her chin, gazing wistfully. “I was younger then, and as impatient as you are now.”
“Last time you were here, you said you wanted an equal. If I still have power to gain, how long would that take?”
“I cannot say; it is not like we have mapped the growth a witch offers. But there is more to equality than raw power, is there not? Indeed, I see you as my equal already.”
“Do you now?” He didn’t believe her. She might have convinced herself of the lie, but if she had, it was loneliness speaking.
“I do,” she said firmly, as if there were no doubts. “It is as I said before. I wish you to join me in France, and be at my side.” She hesitated, a flash of her vulnerability showing itself again. “Last time, I admit I was too forward… for all my talk of caution.” A little laugh, as though it didn’t matter. “I should have asked you, not told you it would happen. That is not how one speaks to an equal, is it?” She paused as if considering her words, rather than reciting what she had clearly prepared. “I would be delighted if you would deign to return with me to Paris. To share my territory, and for us to expand it together. To possibly rekindle the love we once had, or perhaps to grow it into something new.”
“The love we had?” he asked, barely keeping his incredulity from his tone. That wasn’t love, it was ownership. If there had been any love, it was that of master to pet. The very name she had called him for three years.
Besides, his focus was on Cally, and this conversation was a distraction. He wanted to be in the car right now, driving southwest.
“You are right. So much time has passed, but I hoped that we might rediscover love between us, Antoine. For me, though it may have changed, it has never waned.”
Her expression was so heartfelt that he paused, uncertain how to react to such sincerity from her, let alone to respond to a one-sided declaration. “It isn’t so simple,” he said carefully, conscious of her greater power, however subtly her reminders had been given. “I have Cally now, and—”
“But of course. I would not expect you to leave her behind; how could you? You are bonded.” She tilted her head. “There isenough of you to share, is there not? Can a man not love two women?”
He hesitated again, not expecting her to be so easily accepting. “Nevertheless, I don’t think Cally would wish to leave Boston. Her life is here. Her friends, her family.”None of whom are southwest of here. Why am I still sitting here?
“What life?” she said sharply. “What family, when they age and see she does not?” Belle took a breath, then spoke again in the soft, calm voice she had maintained for longer than Antoine could ever recall. “She is a witch, and she will come to seek her own power, if she has not already. Where better than a place steeped in history, where old records are still kept?”
“She won’t be interested.”
“So sure, are you? Maybe I should speak to her, instead.” Belle leaned back in her chair, then uncrossed and recrossed her legs, flashing a significant amount of thigh. “If I persuade her, you come too.”
Antoine bristled. “She does what I say, not the other way around.”
Belle laughed. “You keep telling yourself that. Have you not felt it yet?”
“Felt what?”
“The bond,mon amour.” She gasped, one hand covering her mouth, eyes opening in mischievous surprise. But it was all a show, none of it genuine. “Did I not tell you?”
“Tell mewhat?”
“The witches created the first vampire, didn’t they?”
“I remember.”
“Do you think they would have done so while allowing so powerful a creature to dominate them?”
Antoine narrowed his eyes, the pull in his chest suddenly more visceral, as if putting a name to it made it stronger. “What are you saying?”
“As the bond grows, so does the witch’s power. Her power overyou.” Belle smiled slowly. “I imagine she can already summon you with a thought.”
Antoine stood abruptly, his chest tight, ignoring Belle’s surprise. It wasn’t like the gentle tug of direction when he felt for her; this was insistent. Immediate. A ‘come now’.
“Are you playing games with me?” he asked, his tone brusque. “Could she really summon me with a thought?”
“I speak no word of a lie.”
“Does she know?” he asked urgently. “Could she do it subconsciously?”
“I imagine so. Why?”
Antoine was already striding across the room. “Because she’s been trying all damn night, and I’ve been ignoring her.”
