He took the one beside hers. He had to admit, it was a very comfortable chair, almost decadent.
“Do you like it?”
Her voice was shy. Hesitant. He reached over and took her hand, bringing it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles before letting her go. Immediately both her hands went to her lap, her fingers twisting together.
“Very much. When did your sister teach you about shapeshifting?” He kept his voice gentle, knowing he usually sounded as if he were making demands or giving orders.
She moistened her lips and looked up at him, still nervous, still not relaxing the way she did when he held her.
He tipped her face up to his. “Settle, Gabrielle. You are safe with me.”
She started to reply, bit it back and took a deep breath.
“You have to be able to talk to me. We are just talking, getting to know each other. I respect the fact that you prefer me to wait to share your mind. If that would be easier for you . . .”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I’m not there yet.”
“I see that, kislány. We are just talking.”
She nodded. “I know. I do know that. It’s just that . . .” She raised her eyes to his. “You said you were going to punish me. Well. Maybe not in those words, but you were angry with me and said if I didn’t do what you said . . .” She trailed off again.
“And you’re nervous about that?”
She nodded. Bit her lip. Twisted her fingers in her lap. He laid his hand gently over hers, stilling her fingers.
“O jelä sielamak, even if I do punish you for putting yourself in danger, I would never hurt you.”
“How was I in danger?”
He heard the little bite in her voice. He should have known. She couldn’t light on fire for him the way she did if she didn’t have passion in her. If she didn’t have a backbone. He had misread her. She wasn’t nearly as submissive as he thought. She had wanted to please him. She had wanted to make up for her earlier betrayal that, now, knowing the facts, wasn’t as much of a betrayal as he’d first thought.
He liked that she wanted to please him. He liked that a great deal. “That woman traveled with assassins. I was not there to protect you. Already, these people turned your life upside down. You told me you were attacked by them and had to be converted by the prince. Not by your lifemate, but by another. Because I was not there to watch over you.”
She blinked at him, and he knew he had revealed something important to her and she got it. His anger was directed more at himself than at her. He detested that he had left her in order to help feed the ancients and make certain they were safely contained in the ground again before returning to her. He had been delayed by the battle with the master vampire’s lesser vampires and during that time, someone had penetrated his resting place when he considered her safe. He hadn’t even set up safeguards to protect her. That was on him. That would always be on him.
“Aleksei.”
Just his name. His heart turned over at her tone. He knew she had forgiven him everything just by the tone she used saying his name. Like music.
“It is my privilege and my duty to protect you from all harm,” he said.
“I’ll take more care,” she promised. “You couldn’t know she was going to be there. She heard me crying and just came in,” she admitted. “I didn’t even hear her.”
That didn’t make him feel any better. “Why were you crying?”
She swallowed. He knew answering him honestly was going to be difficult for her, but she was determined to give him truth. His respect and admiration for her rose a little more. She’d promised him truth, and no matter what, she was giving him that.
“I felt like a slut. I like having sex with you.” Her eyes avoided his. She gazed unseeing into the fire while she made her confession. “A lot, Aleksei. I like it a lot. I wanted more. When I’m with you, I’m only thinking of you, and that felt like a betrayal of Gary.” Her gaze jumped to his face and then she corrected herself. “Of him.”
Clearly she was afraid of saying his name aloud to him. He’d done that. He’d made it so she couldn’t discuss her feelings with him. That was why she’d turned to a stranger. Again. Totally on his shoulders.
“Then when you left and I thought that, it felt like a betrayal of you.”
“Gabrielle, you have not betrayed me. I was wrong to make you think that. I did not know you had been human. You were not guided as you should have been. These mistakes are mine, not yours. I had not felt emotion in hundreds of years. I was so far gone I had to lock myself away to protect my own kind. Even now, there are darkness and demons inside of me.”
“That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Aleksei,” she said, her voice shy.
He loved the sound of her voice when she talked to him in that tone.