Page 8 of Love, Rekindled

“True.” He reached up to touch the spot where the dagger had slid through his chest. “Thankfully, it takes more than that to put me in my grave.” He grimaced. “Or at least it used to.”

Her eyes darkened with an emotion he couldn’t identify. Disbelief? Regret? Hope? Then, her jaw tightened with rigid resolve.

“I don’t know how you managed to create this illusion, but…” Her words died on her lips as Azrael reached into the pocket of his slacks to pull out the jade pendant he’d carried with him for the past seven hundred years.

“Does this help?”

Her ruby lips parted, her gaze locked on the stone. At last, she tilted back her head to study him with a strange expression.

“How?”

“When I was human, someone cursed me by placing my soul in a sword.”

Her gaze darted around the barren space, no doubt searching for his weapon. When she didn’t find it, she returned her attention to him.

“A witch?” she asked, clearly unperturbed by his revelation.

Of course, she was as old as he was. Over the passage of a thousand years, a creature was bound to have seen or heard most things. Even about crazy-ass curses.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. Vampires had no memory of their lives as humans, and since there’d been no one around to ask when Azrael woke, he hadn’t been able to discover who had cursed him. Or why. “But the magic of the sword is fey.”

Jayla furrowed her brow as if considering what he’d just revealed. “Does that mean the only way to destroy you is to destroy the sword?”

Azrael hesitated before he nodded. He would be a fool to trust a female who’d already tried to kill him, but then again, he had to rely on her if he were to survive. He needed her, and that meant revealing the truth.

She started to say something, only to snap her lips together as if struck by a sudden thought.

“What is it?” he demanded.

“Did the Anasso know?” She forced the question between stiff lips.

Ah. She was wondering if the brutal king had deliberately tried to send her to her death.

“No.” Azrael shook his head. “If he’d discovered I was something other than immortal, he would have stopped at nothing to force me into his clan.” His lips twisted into a humorless smile. He’d spent his life virtually alone because he’d known what would happen if he became a weapon for some bloodthirsty master. “What could be better than a trained warrior you can sacrifice over and over in battle?”

She slowly nodded, not revealing if she was comforted by his words or not.

“Is this your revenge?” she abruptly demanded. “Do you intend to kill me?”

“Just the opposite,” he assured her. “I intend to offer you a bargain.”

CHAPTER 2

Jayla had once jumpedoff a cliff on the coast of Ireland to avoid a pack of angry werewolves who’d caught her alone. For endless moments, she’d soared through the air, feeling a strange sense of unreality. It was like flying, only with the knowledge that a devastatingly painful landing awaited at the bottom of the cliff.

That’s what it felt like as her hungry gaze drank in the sight of Azrael.

For seven hundred years, she’d mourned the death of this vampire. As if he’d been a vital part of her life and had been ripped away. And worse was the knowledge that she had struck the killing blow. Now, she soared on a dizzying sensation of hope combined with a sickening fear that this was all a hideous trick.

Telling herself that she was searching for some sign of a hoax, she allowed her gaze to roam over Azrael’s fiercely beautiful features, silvery hair still cut short, and piercing blue eyes. There were a few differences. He had a large diamond that flashed in his earlobe. She didn’t recall it being there during their first meeting. And he wore a sweater that covered his broad chest and the magnificent, winged tattoo on his back. A shame. Really, really a shame.

At last, her gaze settled on the jade pendant dangling from his slender fingers. That wasn’t a hoax. It was real, and it was hers. She caught her scent on the fragile necklace. So, who else could have it but Azrael?

Accepting that there was a faint possibility that he was telling the truth, Jayla held tightly to her skepticism. Just like leaping off a cliff with the knowledge she would have a painful landing.

“If you wanted a bargain, you would have approached me at the hotel. There was no need to kidnap me,” she pointed out.

His brows lifted, seeming confused by her words. “Kidnapped? Is that what you think happened?”

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