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“Yes, I do.” He grinned and dabbed at the tip of her nose. “But don’t look so stricken.Youare Yana. Or, you were a lifetime ago. I fell in love withyou.”
He lightly pressed his mouth to hers. Her lips parted at his whisper-light contact and his tongue swept between them to caress the inside of her mouth. Warm and smooth.
He harnessed his masculine reaction to her trembling softness, lingering only a moment before drawing away.
“Celeste, you are the only woman I have ever loved, or ever will. Always remember that.”
She frowned as comprehension came to her. “So I am this Yana woman reincarnated?”
“Yes, that is right. You know about reincarnation?”
“I do, but I don’t think I ever really believed it before.” Her hand stroked down his arm, along his palm, and her fingers entwined with his. “So what happened in this previous life of mine? Did we have a long and happy lifetime together?”
“No, that was not to be. A powerful woman, Atia, had been pursuing me, trying to manipulate me into marrying her. She claimed to love me and when she found out I had lost my heart to another, she flew into a violent rage. She threatened to kill Yana.”
Remembered anger and frustration surged through him. He pushed himself from the couch and paced. Celeste watched his progress back and forth across the carpet.
“I told her if she allowed Yana and me a life together, afterward, in gratitude I would marry her. A handful of decades was, after all, a small time compared to the eternity I would spend with Atia.”
His fists clenched tightly.
“But she refused. She couldn’t stand the fact that I loved someone else. She wanted me to love her.Demandedthat I love her.”
He stopped and faced Celeste, his hands flattened over his heart.
“But I could only feel what is in my heart.”
“Did she kill… Yana?”
“No, she did not kill her. Instead, she tore Yana from her home and her family, everything she held dear, and flung her across the world to a strange, foreign land. She didn’t know their language or their customs.”
“And you? Is that when she imprisoned you in the crystal?”
“No. First, she locked me away in her private prison. She tried to make me love her. The prison was a luxurious, hedonist’s dream. Physical luxuries abounded. The only indication it was a prison were the invisible barriers that bound me inside, and the abatement of my power. I had to depend on her for everything.”
He pushed his hair back over his ear.
“She tried to seduce me, wearing provocative clothing, believing if I made love to her, it would prove I loved her. Finally, at my continued refusal, her patience snapped and she used a spell to make me obey her.”
His stomach churned and his fists tightened into balls.
“With this spell, I became her puppet. She could force me to make love to her, even force me to speak words of love. I spent thirty years as her love slave, satisfying her every whim. Totally controlled by her.Usedby her.”
Celeste stood and walked to him, took one of his hands and kissed it, then stroked it gently. At her soft touch, he relaxed a little. She led him to the couch and coaxed him to sit beside her, then held his hand and waited patiently for him to continue.
“I knew when Yana died. All through her life I could feel a connection to her, and when that connection died, I died a little, too. When she was alive, it was like knowing she was there, somewhere in the world, no matter how far away, and it gave me hope. After that, I lost all interest in life. I became unresponsive and detached.”
Celeste stroked his hand with comforting warmth.
“Atia could make my body respond at will, but she could not change how I felt. Finally, she decided I depressed her too much. She decided if I liked humans so much, I should serve them. That is when she imprisoned me in the crystal to serve whatever master came along.”
Celeste rose and drew him into her arms.
“Oh, Zurvan, you have suffered so much.”
He squeezed her. “As have you, my love.”
He cradled her hands within his own. “Have you any memories of your past life? Perhaps as part of a dream?”
