important to them as you will be. If you don’t cooperate with them they will use her for food, or give her to one of their puppets, like with Liv.”
His expression still hadn’t changed. He still hadn’t blinked. Now she knew what a true predator was. Subconsciously trying to protect herself she wrapped her hand around her throat, covering it. “Why did you take my blood if you aren’t a vampire?”
“I am Carpathian, an ancient race. We exist on blood, but we do not kill those we use to feed. We are careful. Respectful. Our prey never know we took their blood.”
She winced at the word prey. Somehow she knew he deliberately was being stark, raw, not wrapping what he was in pretty words to mislead her.
“We seem immortal, but we can be killed. We do have longevity and sometimes that is more of a curse than a gift.”
Charlotte studied his face. He hadn’t taken a step toward her. He hadn’t tried to touch her. She knew if he did, he would be able to convince her of anything. That would have made it so much easier. When his hands or mouth were on her, she would have flown to the moon and back with him. So why wasn’t he touching her? She almost wanted him to hold her, kiss her, convince her that she didn’t want to leave him.
Because she didn’t. The idea of being separated from him made her physically ill. “You can’t expect me to calmly decide to go along with all this.”
“I can and I do. You have genuine feelings for me. I am in your mind, and to make it fair, at any time, you can be in mine.” He nodded his head toward the tools neatly laid out on the table. “I suspect your psychic gift is strong, and it involves reading antiques. That was how you realized I am far older than I look.”
Was there a faint note of humor in his tone? If there was, it didn’t show on his face or in his eyes. His gaze was as watchful as ever. His expression very serious.
“Yes, I saw you carving the horse. You were surrounded by your friends.”
His expression changed then and she realized she’d triggered a long-forgotten memory. He looked sad.
“They were giving me a hard time. The Malinov brothers, all five of them, were there that evening. They liked to discuss politics. They didn’t always agree with our prince and they wanted debates going all the time. It was tiresome, but that night, they were just having fun. Fridrick was there as well. The prince’s lifemate was close to having her first child. A son. He would be the reigning prince one day. It was a time of great joy.”
She studied his face. “Why does the memory make you so sad?” She felt his sorrow, felt it like a weight pressing down on her. She had the unexpected urge to go to him and put her arms around him to comfort him. She forced her feet to stay where they were. This entire revelation was far too scary to even consider. She believed every word he said to her.
“That night was a fun night, but later, some years later, it all turned wrong. Terrible. I had never given the carousel to the prince for his son. I hadn’t finished it. Work got in the way. I had to chase vampires, and the piece was never finished. Later, when I went back to it, that’s when everything went wrong.”
Charlotte could feel his anguish, although she wasn’t certain he could.
“The Malinovs had a sister, Ivory. A beautiful girl. Everyone loved her, especially the brothers. Ivory was ultimately betrayed by the prince’s eldest son, the one I was originally carving the horse for. At that time, there was unrest between human factions and a war broke out. We were interrupted and had to choose sides. Many of my people, including the Malinovs, didn’t think we should involve ourselves in the wars of humans. They avoided them other than to feed.”
“Like cattle to humans.”
A little shudder went through her body at the way he’d put that. Tariq had “fed” from her. She touched the brand on the swell of her breast, and the mark pulsed and throbbed. Instantly, as if connected, her sex matched that strange, hungry beat.
“Sielamet, I do not ‘feed’ in that way from you. It is erotic and intimate with you. We are meant for each other. My people do not