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Marius brought her a glass of iced tea. She caught his hand and looked into his eyes. She blinked rapidly. “This is beyond anything I’d ever expected or hoped to experience in the entire course of my life.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
He kissed her hand and, for a moment, she almost lost sight of her goal, which apparently involved finding the key to the old language as quickly as possible.
But Marius released her hand quickly and she resumed staring at the tablet now lying beneath the large magnifying glass.
She found that the same phrase repeated itself in the carvings in the various caves, which would make sense. Maybe it was a blessing, or perhaps a warning—she couldn’t be sure.
Hours passed.
After she had stretched her aching back for the tenth time, Marius rubbed her shoulders. “Dinner just arrived.”
She met his gaze over her shoulder. “I just realized I’m famished.” And that’s when she felt his need hitting her in a series of strong waves. The man was blood-starved.
She’d been so caught up in studying this incredible sealed-up find that she’d blocked all sensations flowing from him. But what she found beyond his hunger was something so close to affection, maybe even love, that she almost stumbled when she left her chair.
The earlier question took a new shape in her mind. Could she have a life with Marius, a real life full of love and belonging, in this hidden world?
* * *
Marius took Shayna’s hand and had started to lead her to the dining area when she caught sight of the doorway to the tablet room and stopped in her tracks.
“The
debris is all gone. When did that happen?”
He squeezed her hand. “I think that was going on about the time you were exclaiming over the quality of the tablets and the clarity of each imprint.”
He could see she was about to expound on the same theme, so he reminded her that dinner was waiting.
“Right, yes, right. I really am starved.”
Marius seated her and poured her a glass of red wine.
“This is a feast and I don’t think I’ve seen this dish before.”
“It’s wonderful,” Marius said. “It’s a bulgur salad made of cracked wheat, tomatoes, onions, parsley, and an olive oil vinaigrette.”
She put a large spoonful on her plate and took a bite. “That’s heavenly.”
He sipped his wine and watched her for a few moments. He needed to feed from her vein badly because of the recent battle, but he wanted this time to be about Shayna.
And he wouldn’t have disturbed her, not even if he was close to death. He knew what the tablets had meant for her, the joy that such a tremendous discovery had been, something that Gabriel had kept secret for well over five hundred years, probably longer. He’d given her one of the finest experiences of her life by allowing her the privilege of a first look at the ancient treasure and history of the vampire world.
He understood that she was looking at the footings of his entire civilization.
And so did Gabriel.
But Gabriel’s motives weren’t entirely pure.
While Shayna had been busy exploring the tablets, Gabriel had told Marius that though the extinction weapon was no longer a threat, he knew Daniel had to be removed from power. He was hoping that something Shayna might learn, or perhaps had already learned, about their world would provide them with a clue as to how to unseat the most powerful vampire of the past two millennia.
Marius sampled the fare as well, savoring charred chicken kebabs cooked with onions and peppers, the salad, and a very fine hummus served with chunks of bread torn from a soft round loaf.
“Marius?”
He glanced up at her. “Yes?” He cut one of the chicken pieces in half, speared it with his fork, then added a slice of red pepper.
