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He let me make the joke. He even smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "Oui, ma petite."
My voice was soft when I said, "So Arturo wanted Julianna."
He took his hand back, slowly. "And she feared him, and we feared for her. This is two hundred years ago, a little more now. Asher was not as powerful as he is now, and we feared that his human servant would not survive Arturo's attentions."
"I've got to ask, how big was he?"
Jean-Claude spaced his hands apart like you'd measure a fish. "Like this big." It looked to be about six inches.
"That's not so big."
"That is how wide he was," Jean-Claude said.
I just gaped at him. "You're exaggerating."
"No, ma petite, believe me, I remember."
"Then how long was he?"
He made another measuring movement. I laughed because I didn't believe him. "Oh, please. You're saying he was what, about six inches wide and over a foot long? No way."
"Yes, way, ma petite."
"You said Arturo was one of Belle's favorites. Does that mean she ..."
"Had sex with him, oui."
I frowned, couldn't think of a slick way to say it, so just blurted out, "Didn't it hurt her?"
"She was a woman with a large capacity for men in every way."
Gee, that was polite. "Most women wouldn't be able to ... accommodate that" I said.
"No," he agreed.
"Did she want to kill Julianna?"
"No, she believed Arturo would not harm her."
"Why?"
He licked his lips, which he rarely did, and looked uncomfortable, which he did even less often. "Let us say that something that Belle Morte taught Asher and me to take pleasure in, we also did with Julianna."
I frowned at him, because I so did not have a clue. "If you're hinting, I'm not getting it."
"I would rather not discuss it, now. Perhaps at a later time."
I frowned harder. "What aren't you telling me?"
He shook his head. "I think, ma petite, that you would rather not know."
I looked at him. "You know, Jean-Claude, there was a time--not that long ago--that I'd have thrown a fit and made you tell me everything. But now if you tell me I don't want to know, then I'll just believe you. I really am not up to hearing intimate and shocking details about your vampire sex life. I've had enough shocks in that area for one day."
"Ma petite, I think you are growing up at last."
"Don't push it. And I'm not growing up, I'm just getting tired."
"As are we all, ma petite, as are we all."
I let the royal blue satin robe fall from my hands. It had wide lace sleeves and more lace at what passed for the lapels, to curve in flowers down the sides. It was beautiful and fit me perfectly. Most robes are too long for me. He'd probably bought it with me in mind. I belted it in place and didn't want to ask any more questions about the ardeur and sex and vampire stuff. But some things had to be clear between us.
"I need to get this straight, Jean-Claude."
"Oui, ma petite."
"You say that what we did was sex, so in effect I had sex with everyone?"
He just nodded.
"You don't seem at all jealous about that."
"I was participating, ma petite. Why should I be jealous?"
The answer confused me more. I frowned up at him. "Okay, let me try this again. You say the ardeur may need to be fed more than once a day. We can't count on you being Johnny-on-the-spot when it happens. I can sleep over here, but ..."
"You may need to feed when I am not awake. This is very possible, in fact, it is likely."
"Okay, then what are the rules?"
It was his turn to frown. "What do you mean, ma petite?"
"Rules. I mean like what will make you jealous and what won't? What, or who, am I supposed to stay away from?"
He started to smile, then stopped. "You are one of the most cynical people I have ever met, the most practical in a life-and-death context, and if you knew some of the people I had met, you would understand the compliment that is. But you are also very earnest, like a child. It is a type of innocence that I do not think you will ever outgrow. But I find it hard to deal with."
"It's a fair question."
"Indeed it is, but most people would not need to ask it so blandly. They would either ignore it and do the best they could when the need arose, or they would ask who among my people will I allow you to have sex with, without becoming angry."
It made me wince to hear him say it, but ... "I like the way I phrased the question better."
"I know. You are simultaneously one of the most direct women I know, and one of the most self-deluding."
"I am really not liking where this conversation's going."
"Fine, but I will answer my question, because it is the truth. If Nathaniel is your pomme de sang, then I will let intimacy with him pass. Jason as my pomme de sang is within his rights to make love with my human servant. It is considered a great gift for a vampire to share his servant with another, and Jason has earned that. He has served me faithfully for many years."
"I'm not a prize to be given away."
He held up a hand. "Hush, ma petite, I will answer the question, and I will try for truth, even though you do not want to hear it today. There are many things I would have told you today, if you had been in the mood for truth. But you are right, this we must have clear between us. I would simply have urged you to keep Nathaniel close at hand and let the cards fall as they may, but if you insist on a list, then I will give it to you, but not without reasons. Because I want it clear that I do not share you lightly, and there are men I will not share you with at all."
He was angry now, and his eyes had bled to sapphire flame. The rest of his body was very still, but the eyes gave it all away. He was in the grip of some strong emotion, probably anger, but I wasn't sure. And he was shielding like a son of a bitch, so something he was feeling, or thinking, he didn't want me to share.
"Asher is acceptable."
He didn't give the reasons for that one, and I didn't ask, because there were too many of them, most of them painful.
"If Richard comes to his senses, then of course." He smoothed his hands down the front of his robe; he often checked his clothes when he was nervous. "The Nimir-Raj will have to be acceptable, because he calls to you. Richard's beast calls to you through my marks, my ties to him, to it, but the Nimir-Raj, he calls to you, Anita." My real name again. He was not happy. "He calls to something in you, in your power. It may be that you are truly Nimir-Ra, and the full moon will see it true. Or it may be that, as with Nathaniel, you have found your animal to call. If you are drawn more strongly to all the leopards, then it could be for either reason. Be wary if the leopards are yours to call. It may not merely be Nathaniel and the Nimir-Raj that beckon."
"Please, don't tell me that I'm going to turn into slut-girl."
He smiled. "I do not think you need to fear that. You are stronger willed than that."
"You just said I might be tempted by the other wereleopards."
"If the Nimir-Raj or Nathaniel are not near you when the ardeur rises, then my advice is to give in to it instantly."
I gave him wide eyes.
"If you fight it, ma petite, it grows. If it grows large enough, then you may indeed turn into slut-girl. If you give in and feed immediately, then you will have sex with one person, not several, and it will be more a person of your choosing."
"So the real advice is, keep the men I prefer within easy reach."
"I would make Nathaniel, or someone of your choosing, your constant companion."
I swallowed hard and searched his face, but it was pleasantly blank--his expression when he didn't want me to know what he was thinking. His eyes had bled back to normal.
Something occurred to me. "I haven't seen Damian around."
"I speak of sex, and you think of Damian." His voice was still pleasant but the words held something harsh.
"You give me this list of people to sleep with, and not to sleep with, but you leave him off either list. And he wasn't at the club, and he didn't come to the bedroom, attracted by the power like Asher. Where is he?"
Jean-Claude rubbed his hands over his face. "I was going to tell you, then you decided you wanted no more hard truths today." He lowered his hands and looked at me.
