“This I don’t know,” Lucien admitted through his teeth.
“Then Etienne being involved at this juncture, with so many unknowns, so many dangers –”
“I will keep her safe,” Lucien repeated impatiently.
“She’s falling in love with you,” Kate blurted and Lucien’s entire body went tense. Kate saw it and leaned back then took a small step away from him. Still, even as she moved away, her eyes studied him closely. Then, quietly and with some surprise, she whispered, “That eventuality had not occurred to you.”
She was wrong. Stephanie had warned him of this possibility. Cosmo had concerns of it. His children.
But it could not happen.
“She is concubine, I’m vampire. She’s mortal, I’m immortal. She’s dreaming of The Sentence and after I explained it to her, she knows what it means. It would be beyond foolhardy for her to fall in love with me. Even before she knew of The Sentence, she knew vampires did not mate with mortals. She knew this,” Lucien replied, feeling something in his gut. Something new. Something he hadn’t felt in centuries. Something he only felt once in his very long life.
Something he felt with Maggie.
I love you.
Christ, he’d heard it through her dreams. He’d even heard it in his.
Christ! Could these dreams be premonitory?
No. It simply could not happen.
“You’ve spent much time watching Leah, hearing of her and now, being with her. But you still have much to learn about her,” Kate said softly, taking his attention back to her.
Lucien held Kate’s eyes before he sighed.
It was time to do something about this, for their families, those who cared about them and, especially, for Leah.
Therefore he announced, “I’ll speak to her.”
Kate’s brows shot up. “You mean, to tell her not to fall in love with you?” she asked incredulously.
“No, to remind her of things she should keep in the forefront of her mind through our time together. Once I remind her of these things, she’ll stop herself from being controlled by these types of emotions.”
Kate shook her head. “Lucien, this is Leah we’re talking about.”
“Yes, and she is far from stupid. I can see as our relationship has progressed, the intensity of feelings we’ve shared, matters could cloud better judgment. I’ll simply call her attention to what she should bear in mind.”
“You can do that, of course, and Leah is clever. But Lucien, I warn you if you haven’t already noted this, my niece follows her heart. She’s ruled by emotion. She can understand something logically in her head but her feelings guide her, especially if they’re intense. Her head has absolutely no sway over her emotions.”
“Then I’ll explain things fully,” Lucien returned and Kate fell silent. When this lasted several moments, Lucien enquired, “Are we finished?”
“One more thing,” she answered quietly.
“One more, Kate,” Lucien allowed, “but make it fast.”
“If you intend to have this talk with Leah, please, I implore you, do it quickly.”
“Unfortunately, at this time there are a variety of other matters –” Lucien started and was surprised when Kate cut him off.
And she did this to whisper, “Make this a priority, please, for my niece.”
“Kate –”
“She’s falling in love with you.”
“And I will speak with her.”