is the price of immortality. Death is part of life. And they won’t have it.”
My head spun in a haze of non-comprehension. “Okay. The Dark Ages. What before that?”
“The Crusades. And after that, World War One, World War Two.”
“Hitler?” I asked, agog.
“Who but a vampire would be so bent on only his kind surviving?”
The rabbit hole bored into the center of the earth, pulling my center of gravity with it. “But you can’t kill a vampire. And he committed suicide.”
“Tried,” Mark said. “By gunshot and cyanide. But vampires don’t die, much to his chagrin.”
“So where is he?”
“He owns a restaurant in Munich. I hear they do a pretty swift business during Oktoberfest.”
“Pretty diverse profile, I bet.”
“You better believe it.”
Bodies moved around us until the whole room became an impressionist painting. Gestures rendered by quick brushstrokes in my periphery. Mark pulled me in closer. The long, dark skirt of my gown whispered against his legs. “About the other day…”
His broad, muscular back stiffened beneath my hands. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
“You’d rather not talk about anything. But I need to. I’m not trying to make anything more complicated for you.”
“You haven’t.” Mark steered us away from another couple, using the opportunity to put some space between us.
A familiar, dull ache started up in my chest. I told myself the corset was to blame, though I knew better. What he’d said was ‘You haven’t.’ What I’d heard was ‘You couldn’t.’ Not you. You’d have to mean something to me first.
“Who was the last heir you brought here?” Better to move the conversation to a topic more painful for him than for me.
“I’d rather not talk about that either.” His hand tightened over mine. The amateur psychologist in my head deciding this to be a subconscious signal of closing down.
“It’s a perfectly reasonable question,” I said, squeezing my hand right back.
“Reason is relative.”
I resisted the very ungraceful and undancerly urge to kick him in the shin. Not that my dress would have allowed me anyway.
Trying to get information out of Mark reminded me of navigating a maze. Walls rose higher than my line of sight in many directions, and most paths terminated in sudden dead ends.
“Remind me why you brought me here again?” I tilted my chin up towards his, as much so he could hear me as to remind him of how easy it would be for him to kiss me. Should he want to. Ever again.
“Because you begged me.” Abernathy punctuated these words with a quick, violent turn, spinning me with dizzying force.
“How am I supposed to make my decision when you keep sheltering me from the things I want to know about this world?” I asked when I had regained a measure of my equilibrium.
When Abernathy wouldn’t meet my eyes, I reached up and placed a hand on his beautifully carved and cleanly-shaven jaw, angling his face to mine. For one simultaneously brief and endless moment, we were the only two people in the room, the castle, the country, the world.
His gaze had the power to do that to me. To render everything not in its direct path utterly obsolete. Meaningless.
“I will spare you as much ugliness as I can for as long as I can. If you choose to remain human, there are certain aspects of my world you would be better not knowing.” He took my hand from his face and put it back on his shoulder. Not I noted, over his heart.
“How does my question fall into that category?”
“The answer is ugly.” The half flirting, half teasing lightness on his face evaporated then, leaving something darker and more impenetrable.
Great.
“Speakin’ of ugly.” Allan materialized at my elbow and despite my boundless love for him, I could have cheerfully strangled him on the spot. “Pharaoh has requested your presence. Gawd, but I’m amazing,” he said, stepping back to admire the gown. “’is thing is a work of bloody art.”
“Now?” Mark dropped my hand, irritation clear on his features “We had our one-on-one earlier today.” This was easily the most work-related thing I had ever heard Abernathy say.
“You had a one-on-one meeting with the Ahkenaten and you didn’t let me take notes?” I asked, disappointment further crushing my already collapsing chest.
“Because you taking notes would have been more akin to you jumping in his lap and choking off his air-supply with a patented Hanna neck squeeze?” Abernathy and Allan traded a look that suggested they were both in agreement with this assessment.
“Ah-ha!” I said, holding up my finger for