Page 101 of Dawn Caravan
“Here.” She held out a bowl of stew. “Wipe that smile off your face and eat.”
“Does my smile really annoy you that much?”
“You look like a crocodile,” she muttered, “with too many teeth.”
Ben hadn’t laughed that freely in months.
* * *
Tenzin lookedup when she heard his laughter. Glorious. What had the young woman said?
For the thousandth time, Tenzin debated her strategy. Perhaps she was wrong to follow him so closely? Perhaps he needed to take a few immortal lovers so that he wouldn’t regret—
No.
Her amnis recoiled at the thought, as did her memory. He already belonged to her. She just had to be patient.
Benjamin loved her, and his anger was natural. When he let his temper cool, he would return to her. What was two years? The blink of an eye. The snap of her fingers. Two years was nothing.
Two years was everything.
She hungered for him. When they touched, his amnis roared over her like a crashing wave while hers waited like a tiger. She had to resist the urge to sink her teeth into his flesh and never let go.
She wanted to drown in him, not listen to him laughing at the jokes of another woman.
Her fangs ached in her mouth.
She sipped the glass of blood-wine Radu had poured for her and watched the humans dancing in front of the fire.
“I know you suspect me,” Tenzin said to Radu. “But I am not your enemy. If I was, he wouldn’t even be here.”
“You’re very confident you can control him.”
“Control him?” She smiled. “It doesn’t work that way with Ben.”
Radu glanced toward the kitchen. “I haven’t seen a newborn like him in a very long time.”
“You haven’t seen a newborn like himever.” The wine was delicious with a hint of berry flavoring the iron tang of blood. “He is unique.”
“Those we love always seem unique.”
“Do you know what happened to all my sire’s other sons?” Tenzin leaned forward.
Radu said, “The world was once a much more violent place. Wars, famines, conflict—”
“I killed them all,” Tenzin said quietly, staring at Radu. “And I didn’t do it for power. I didn’t want their land or their authority. I didn’t want their people or resources.”
Radu stared at her, unflinching. “Why do you tell me this?”
“I’m not after your throne, but others are.”
“Others are always after my throne.”
She glanced at Ben. “We all see what we want to see, Radu. If we take a step back, sometimes the picture becomes clear.”
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He flipped his pencil in the air, end over point. “Who are the two most likely culprits?”
