She pushed against it, then knocked softly, hoping he would hear her, and then she called his name.
"Rayven?" She pressed her ear to the stone, but could hear nothing but the sound of her own heartbeat.
Frowning, she called again, and then again. Discouraged, she went to the window and watched as the sun sank from sight in a blaze of crimson. The color reminded her of blood and death, of red wine in a crystal glass. She had married a vampyre. The thought, which should have given her pause, filled her with joy. She was his, truly his, and soon he would rise to be with her again. Anticipation fluttered deep within her heart.
She whirled around when she heard the portal slide open. Rayven appeared in the doorway. He was dressed all in black from his shirt to his boots, and his cloak fell in graceful folds to the floor.
Rhianna smiled when she saw him, her heart skipping a beat as her gaze moved over him. How handsome he was, and how much she loved him!
"Good evening, my lord." She started toward him, then stopped, her smile frozen in place by the icy expression in his eyes.
His gaze swept over her as if she were a stranger. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to be with you when you awoke."
He lifted one black brow in a look of clear disbelief. "I find that difficult to believe, madam, considering your eagerness to flee my presence earlier."
Rhianna lifted her chin, determined to make him understand. "It wasn't you I was running from."
"Indeed? Need I remind you there was no one else in the room?"
"It; was the room I was running from, my lord, not you."
He regarded her a moment, then glanced over his shoulder into the room behind him.
"What was it that frightened you?" he asked, his voice heavily laced with sarcasm. "The bed? The armoire?" His gaze was hard and cold as it met hers again. "The table, perhaps?"
"It was the room," she repeated. "I felt trapped because I couldn't get out. I couldn't find the door, and there are no windows, and... I... It was foolish, I know, but I couldn't help it."
He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes like shards of black glass as he stared at her. When he spoke, his voice flowed over her like a wave of dark, bitter water. "Are you sure it wasn't the corpse on the bed that frightened you, madam?"
She regarded him a moment, dismayed by his anger, and then she realized it wasn't anger he was feeling, but a keen sense of disappointment, and hurt. "Rayven, don't! Please, don't."
"I cannot change what I am, madam, not even for you."
"I'm not asking you to change."
"Look at me, Rhianna. This is what I am."
She wanted to look away, to run from the room, away from the pain she had caused him. Instead, she held her ground and met his gaze.
And he let her see him as he saw himself, a man who lived but did not grow old, who was, and was not.
Four hundred years a vampyre, and the hunger was still his master. He had learned to control it, but never to subdue it. He unleashed it now, let it rise up within him until he knew his eyes burned with need.
He drew back his lips so that she could see the sharp white fangs he had kept carefully hidden from her view.
It was a sight that had terrified others. It terrified Rhianna, as well. Every instinct she possessed urged her to flee, to run from his presence and his house and never return.
Instead, she clenched her fists at her sides and held her ground, determined to prove that she wasn't afraid of him, to convince him once and for all that she loved him, that it didn't matter what he was so long as he loved her in return.
A strangled sound that might have been a growl or a sob rumbled deep in his throat. He took a determined step toward her, wondering if she would bolt from the room. He saw her eyes widen as he closed the distance between them, sensed her uneasiness. He could hear the frightened pounding of her heart, see the rapid pulse throbbing in the hollow of her throat, but she stood firm. Everything she was feeling mirrored in the clear blue depths of her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Rayven leashed the ravening beast within him. He had let her see him as