Page 70 of Given

She sat so close, I saw her pupils retract and then blow wider as she heard me in her head. And I felt her breath caress my jaw when she rasped, “Like yours?”

“Ours.”

“You think I’m dangerous?”

“I know it.”

Her brows drew together. “I’m not—”

“You are,” I said gruffly. “I’ll show you.” I grasped her chin and kissed her.

Power. It flowed between us, thick and alive in the wet slide of our tongues. She was rich, red wine and a swift gallop on my horse. The heady scent of pine and that first sharp bite of winter air on a clear morning. She was trouble, and this was absolutely not what I should be doing, but a spark lived in my chest and it bent toward the one just beginning to dance in hers. Fire was like that. No matter how high or hot it burned, it was forever greedy for a brighter blaze. It was never content. Always, it craved more, until it consumed everything in its path.

Panic buzzed in my mind. It gave me enough willpower to wrench away from her. Even so, I groaned at the loss, my chest rising and falling rapidly.

For a moment, she sat there, panting as harshly as I was. Then she scrambled off my lap in a flurry of skirts. She backed away from me, her fingers pressed to her mouth. “What was that? You did something.”

I stood, then went behind the chair so there was a barrier between us. I curled my fingers over the back and braced myself as I caught my breath. “As I said, dangerous. Our blood calls to each other. I know you feel it.”

Her mouth opened, then closed. “I don’t know what I feel. Tonight, you told Laurent to use a blood rite on me.” The look in her eyes darkened to anger. “You had him put me on my knees and take him down my throat while you watched. You humiliated me.”

“Because I had to know.”

“Know what?” she demanded. “If I’ll be an obedient queen? A pet the two of you can order around?”

I tightened my grip on the chair. “There’s a reason the elves lost everything. They grew too powerful, and delved into black magic that should have never seen the light of day. And they knew it. That’s why they tried to hide their blood.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I had to know if you could be bound…if the part of you that comes from Eldenvalla could be contained by a blood rite.”

“What if it couldn’t?”

I didn’t answer. I let my silence speak for itself.

She hugged her arms around her middle, like she was shoring herself up against a possible attack. “You would have… Have you ever…?”

I knew what she was asking. “I’ve only met one other elven-born who couldn’t be bound. My father.”

“And you killed him?”

“No. That honor went to another.”

“Laurent?”

I nodded.

“So he knows about vampires with elven blood?” Her brow furrowed. “He didn’t tell me any of this.”

I wanted to tell her he hadn’t known about her heritage. But that would have been a lie. He’d obviously learned of it at some point.

“Lar Satha has always been a minor house,” I said. “None of your people ever came to court. It’s possible none of them exhibited any elven gifts. It’s also possible they hid their abilities. In the library at my family’s estate at Lar Keiren, ancient records talk of knights going from house to house, searching for elves who might have escaped the Thicket.” I leaned over the chair. “That’s what you need to understand, Given. The magic the elves brought forth was evil, and it should have perished behind the Thicket. It’s only the passage of time that has dulled those memories and in some cases erased them. Enough generations have passed to render the Fall of Eldenvalla a children’s bedtime story. It’s a legend now, and there are plenty of people who don’t believe it ever happened. You and I should both hope they persist in their disbelief.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“When people fail to understand something, they usually end up fearing it. Fear is the flipside of hate. And people will kill things they hate. Because, ultimately, they don’t want to be afraid.”

She took all this in. I could see her turning it about in her mind. Examining everything I’d thrown at her. Farseeing and hearing me speak in her head should have driven her to her knees, and yet she stood with her spine straight as she absorbed the news that she was part elven. She’d been the same way at the Rift.

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