"I do not know."
"Then we need to know before tomorrow's big party," I said. "If there is even the faintest chance that the ardeur is going to do some funky shit with every master vampire above a certain power level, then no way can I go to the party tomorrow. We're going to be neck-deep in Masters of the City. It would be bad if they all decided they wanted to be my sweetie."
He nodded. "There is one other thing they both have in common, ma petite."
"And that would be?"
"They have both been with vampires who held the ardeur."
"You said vampires, plural. You don't mean just Belle, do you?"
"Requiem had a lover who meant as much to him as Julianna did to Asher and me. Her name was Ligeia."
"He told me that Belle killed her out of jealousy."
"Oui. Ligeia was the only woman of her line to acquire the ardeur. It wasn't the full ardeur that Belle, you, and I carry, but there is more: Requiem refused Belle's bed for her."
"And she killed her for that."
"You have been inside Belle Morte's head, ma petite, how can you sound surprised?"
He had a point. "It still seems pretty petty for a vampire who's over two thousand years old," I said.
He nodded. "Oui, but many of the old ones can be extremely petty." He held his hand out to me.
I stared at that hand for a heartbeat, then I took it. I let him draw me through the water and in against his body. Let him press me to the front of his body, wrap his arms around me. "You're afraid," I said, my cheek pressed to the firmness of his chest.
"Oui, I am afraid."
"Why?"
"There are others here who have tasted the ardeur and are masters. We need to test our theory, ma petite, but I fear we run the risk of having you tied permanently to someone, or they to you."
"Auggie isn't tied to me."
"He did not want to leave our side, ma petite. If he does not recover, then he will be as Belle made her victims, hungering for us forever, willing to do anything to be back between us."
"You sound sad."
"He was my friend; I did not mean to enslave him as Belle would. I saw her victims give up everything, betray every vow, every trust, for the sake of her body." He held me tight against him. "It is not a power I ever wished to possess."
"You hold the ardeur."
"Oui, but this is a level of the ardeur that only she possesses. We all believed that only Belle Morte could wield it at such a level."
"You don't want it."
"I want to be so powerful that no one dares challenge me or our people. But I am afraid of this, and what it will mean."
His heart was beating too fast against my ear. Had it been beating all along, or had it just started? "Mean, how?"
"There are those in Europe who already fear my growing power. Knowledge that I wielded the ardeur at the same level as Belle Morte might tip the scales in the council's voting. They might vote to kill us all rather than risk me making a power base in America, as strong as Belle once possessed in Europe. Or the other American masters might collude to kill us, for fear that we would become like the tyrants of the European council."
"How likely is all this?" I asked.
"Possible."
"How possible?" I asked, suddenly realizing that an accidental pregnancy might not be the worst disaster we could have.