Chapter 3 The Immortal’s Lair
Three
The Immortal’s Lair
This woman was the reason Dav’s brother was dead. She had no right to smell like life itself.
When she slid her hand in his, he fought the urge to pull her closer. His eyes focused on her wrist, and his fangs unsheathed at the memory of her skin giving way to his bite. The mere scent of her blood was enough to make him forget where they were.
He could not afford to forget. His brother’s life, which should have been eternal, had been cut short. Here. For the sake of this mortal’s fleeting existence.
Dav must never lose sight of this—Nora’s blood was a means to an end.
He took a step back, and with it, stepped away from the clearing with her. His effortless magic seemed to leave her reeling. She peered at their new surroundings, swaying on her feet, and stumbled into him.
As her body made contact with his, Dav cursed inwardly. He had forgotten that stepping with a Hesperine was uncomfortable for mortals who were not adjusted to it.
He’d also forgotten how long it had been since he’d held a female this close. Nora was bundled up in layers of wool and propriety, and yet the feeling of her leaning into him made his whole body tighten.
Grief was a twisted master. For months, it had isolated Dav. Now it threw Nora into his arms.
He set her on her feet and strode away, putting the table between them. She tracked him with her gaze, her brown eyes wary, as if he were a predator that might pounce.
“Does this look like a beast’s den?” he asked her.
She took in the warm spell lights, the paper and ink arranged on the table, the tidy scroll racks along the wall. The round chamber was all that remained of an ancient tower, but at least it was hospitable, for a ruin.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“A Hesperine Sanctuary. The spells over this place protect it from discovery and destruction. Your Order will never be able to find it.”
“Good. I don’t want them interfering with our agreement.”
She seemed to decide he was not about to make a human sacrifice of her at quill point. She roamed over to one of the arched windows. Her candid face lit up, and her aura shone, an unseen light he could feel with his arcane senses.
The Blood Union revealed all mortal emotions to Hesperines.
It was, perhaps, their greatest magical ability…
and greatest weakness. For five hundred years, Dav had vicariously experienced every shade of human experience, from joy to despair.
And yet none of their emotions had sunk so deep into his veins as hers.
Her wonder glittered through him, a mockery of his own pain, and he wanted to claw her feelings out from under his skin.
She smiled, drawing his attention to her generous mouth. “This is the architectural style of the Great Temple Epoch! The structure must be at least fifteen centuries old.”
“I’m not that familiar with your history.” Nothing in the kingdom of Tenebra had ever mattered to Dav. Until his brother had met his fate here.
Nora scarcely seemed to notice the rose vines that spilled through the window frame from outside. She ran her hand along the stonework. A thorn tore her skin, painting one of her fingertips red. The fragrance of her blood bloomed in the air.
Dav took a Hesperine step, transporting himself to her side. He had pulled her hand halfway to his mouth before he realized what he was doing.
They both froze. Blood dripped from her finger onto one white rose. His mouth went dry, parched for his next taste of her.
By the Goddess, he was an educated, intelligent immortal who never struggled with self control. He would not let any human reduce him to this, least of all her.
Slowly, he released her, to prove to himself that he could.
She scuttled away from the roses, cradling her bleeding hand. “Are those Harlot’s Kiss?”
He huffed. “That’s what you call roses here, isn’t it? I suppose you’ve never seen one in person.”
She swallowed. “Tenebrans set fire to them wherever they spring up.”
He nearly rolled his eyes. “Yes, they are Hespera’s sacred flower. No, pricking your finger on one will not destroy your soul or any of that other nonsense.”
“But they have magical properties associated with your goddess.”
“Nothing that will harm you.” He turned his back on her and crossed the room. He was not fleeing from the temptation of her blood. He was exhibiting self-mastery.
His fangs throbbed, taunting him.
“We are not animals, Nora. We are scientists, artists…” He gestured around them. “Architects.”
Curiosity sparked in her aura. Apparently, the way to Nora’s heart was through historical buildings. Dav had never thought a window arch would prove the key to his plan, but if this was an opening he could use, he would take it.
He beckoned her over to one of the walls, where a bas relief was overgrown with rose vines. With a touch of magic, he swept the blooms aside to reveal the red stone beneath. The carving depicted Hespera as a beautiful woman clothed only in her flowing hair.
Nora gasped and stared for a speechless moment. “This has to be a portrayal of Hespera from before worship of her was outlawed. Most of the carvings from this era were destroyed in the Last War. This is exquisitely preserved.”
His empathic abilities tortured him with every flavor of her emotions. Her fascination with the architecture was more powerful than her disapproval of his goddess.
Dav said, “This ruin is just a small example of our architecture. There are glorious cities in Orthros built in styles you’ve never seen before.”
At the mention of the Hesperine homeland, a shudder went through her. “I suppose you would need buildings, even in the Land of Eternal Night.”
“It isn’t a frozen wasteland of death and destruction. It is a place of great beauty and sophistication, a pinnacle of learning and the arts.”
She scowled at him. “Your fangs weren’t made for sipping fine wine. You expect me to believe you sit about painting and reading whenever you aren’t invading my lands and dragging me into your lair?”
For the last seven months, Dav had sat about watching his entire life collapse. Until Queen Soteira had told him that the only way for him to finish grieving was to finish his brother’s mission. She, his gentle mentor, had tossed him out on his arse and told him to go to Tenebra.
“I’m a mind healer by profession,” he said.
You were. The voice of doubt had followed him here. What kind of healer cannot mend himself?
Nora tensed. “You’re a mind mage?”
“No. Not a mind mage, a mind healer. My magic cannot manipulate your thoughts, only restore them to what they should be. It’s the same principle as a healer mage mending a broken leg, except I work on broken minds.
My power can repair the inner damage from harmful spells or painful life experiences. ”
Where is your power now? the voice taunted.
As he so often had in the past half year, Dav reached within himself on reflex, deep into the well where his mind healing magic had always dwelt. And once again, he found only emptiness.
He, one of the most powerful theramancers in Orthros, could no longer wield a drop of his own magic. He was a wreck held together by the innate Hesperine abilities he could still use.
Queen Soteira said magic couldn’t die. But Dav had felt no sign of life from his power since his brother had died in his arms.
Nora’s scent sharpened with anxiety. “I’ve never heard of such magic before.”
This was what Dav hated to sense most of all. Her fear clawing at the Blood Union. Bleeding thorns, he was a healer. Not a monster.
Aren’t you? the voice whispered. You want her pain. You want her remorse. You want her to atone until she breaks the way you have.
He tried to keep his tone calm, factual. “Mind healing is not practiced in Tenebra, but it is an honorable calling in Orthros. So you see, Hesperines have better things to do than roam around your kingdom stalking humans.”
If only his brother had stayed in the safety of their queendom, instead of venturing into these dangerous mortal lands.
Nora’s righteous fury blazed through Dav’s senses, colliding in chaos with his own. “Then why did your brother come here and take my parents from me? Why did he almost kill me?”
That accusation again. After everything Dav’s brother had suffered because of her. How dare she say this of Rahim, the kindest soul Dav had ever known?
Rahim had always believed the best of people. He had been the one with compassion for Tenebrans. And it had gotten him killed because of this ungrateful mortal.
Dav didn’t know if Nora was trying to deceive him about that night for her own ends, or if she truly believed her warped version of events. But he had two more chances to find out what game she was playing.
He would strip away the lies, one by one, until he laid her bare.
“By the time our agreement comes to an end,” he said, “you will understand.”
She thrust out her hand. “Get on with it, then.”
He didn’t take her offering. “Tonight, I will show you I can be trusted with more than your wrist. Will you offer me your throat?”
Her face flushed. Goddess help him, it was so easy to make her blush. He wouldn’t have needed the Blood Union to read her response to him. But the warmth of her anger and attraction washed over his Hesperine senses as well.
“You’re sweating, Nora. Will you let me take your cloak?”
She clutched it closer about her for an instant, but then slowly unfastened it and handed it to him. He tossed it away onto the nearby cot. She rigidly ignored the bed.
She needn’t have worried. She was the last person he had any intention of bedding. It was hardship enough that their agreement required him to drink her blood.
Oh, indeed, what a hardship. The voice of doubt had become the call of temptation.
No, Dav was not doing this for himself. This was for his brother.
Rahim’s last wish had been for Dav to turn Nora into a Hesperine. He would do whatever he must to convince her to go through with it.