Anna instantly reacted to the cool touch of his lips. Okay, maybe it was more than reacted. The merest caress was enough to make her pant with desire.
And drool. There was definitely drool involved.
Still, her newfound sensitivity to his emotions warned her that this was as much about distraction as it was about passion.
“Cezar.”
His lips drifted down the length of her nose. “Hmmm?”
“Why haven’t you asked me to finish the ceremony?”
With a low groan, Cezar rested his forehead on hers. “Anna, this is not the time to be making a decision that will affect you for an eternity. You have enough on your mind at the moment.”
“You mean my homicidal great, great, great aunt and her band of fruitcake fairies?”
He lifted his head to offer a wry smile. “They were first on the list.”
She paused, then gave a firm shake of her head. “No.”
“They’re not?”
“That’s not what’s bothering you,” she clarified. “It’s something else.”
Without warning he pulled away and slipped from the bed to regard her with a somber expression.
“Stop, Anna,” he husked.
Holding the blanket over her naked body, she sat up in the bed. Unlike Cezar she wasn’t yet comfortable with flashing her more private parts.
You couldn’t live through the Victorian age and not be somewhat affected.
“Why?” she demanded.
“It’s dangerous.”
She narrowed her eyes and concentrated, only to discover that Cezar had retreated deep inside himself. A place she couldn’t reach.
“Dammit.” Anna crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at the vampire who hovered over her. Okay, maybe it was more of a leer. After all, he was standing there stark naked, his hair tousled, and looking good enough to eat. Literally. “When are you going to tell me the truth?”
“When I’m allowed.” He lifted a slender hand to halt her angry retort. “I’m sorry, querida, but that is simply how it has to be.”
“Forever?”
“No, not forever.”
She heaved a deep sigh, wondering how her simple, boring life had suddenly become so complicated.
“This mysterious fate thing is really starting to wear on my nerves,” she muttered.
His stark expression eased at her petulant tone and a tiny smile tugged at his lips.
“Never fear, Anna Randal, all will be revealed in time.”
Without thought she plucked a pillow from the bed and tossed it at his head. “Now you’re just trying to piss me off.” She watched as he easily sidestepped her fluffy missile, his dark eyes regarding her with a strange intensity. “What are you looking at?”
“You.” With a coiled elegance he moved to perch on the bed, his finger brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. “You’ve changed from those days in London.”
“Changed how?”
“You have much more…” He struggled for the proper word. “Confidence in yourself.”
Anna smiled, unable to halt her flare of pride. She had changed. Or maybe she had simply grown into who she was intended to be.
In either case, it had taken several decades and a lot of work to accomplish.
“I’ve learned that I can stand on my own,” she said, her voice filled with satisfaction. “It’s an important lesson for every woman.”
His expression tightened. “I wish you hadn’t been forced to learn it. If I had been allowed to stay with you…”
She hastily pressed her fingers to his lips. She didn’t want to recall how many years she devoted to trying to make this man her enemy. It had been ridiculous, even childish, and she couldn’t deny a sense of guilt that she had been so selfish that she had never considered he might be battling his own demons.
Well, she assumed the Oracles were demons.
Instead she turned the conversation to a few of the less explosive questions that had niggled at her over the years. “You know, you’ve never told me why you were in London that year.”
His brows lifted, but with a smooth motion he shifted so he could pull her back into his arms and rested his cheek on the top of her head. “Viper requested that I join him in England. At that time Dante was being held prisoner by a coven of witches and he hoped that I could help him research a means to release him from his chains.”
“That’s awful.” She briefly wondered why any witch would want to hold a vampire captive. It seemed kind of like having a tiger by the tail. Never a good idea. “Did you help?”
Cezar grimaced. “No, all I managed to do was to become a captive myself.”“To the Oracles?”
His lips brushed her hair. “And to you.”
Her heart gave a pleasant flop. Did all vampires know just what to say to make a woman all warm and tingly?
“What were you doing before you came to London?” she demanded, knowing her deep curiosity would take years, or perhaps centuries, to be satisfied.
She felt him shrug. “I was a part of the Spanish court. Every so often I enjoy dabbling in politics and royal intrigues.”
His tone was casual, but Anna gave a sudden blink. Damn, she’d never thought about how easy it would be for vampires to alter the course of the human world.
How many times had they…
No, she didn’t want to think about it. Not now.
“So you truly are a Conde?” she asked instead.
“I was given the title some centuries ago for a small service to the king.”
She wrinkled her nose. She suspected that small service was another thing she didn’t want to dwell on.
“Wasn’t it a little awkward when you didn’t age over the years?”
“I rarely remained more than a few years, and when I would return it was easy to convince others that I was a son of the previous Conde.”
It sounded way too easy and she tilted back her head to meet the dark gaze.
“You used mind tricks on them, didn’t you?”
“When necessary.”
Had she been just another human, she might have been offended by the ease with which he used his powers to manipulate them. After all, it wasn’t precisely nice. But her own years of being forced to hide and lie to protect herself had given her an appreciation of how difficult it was for an immortal to live in a world dominated by mortals.
“What did you do when you weren’t at court?”
“I spent time with various vampires and on occasion I was called to war between clans, but usually I retreated to my lair in the Alps to enjoy the books and works of art I had collected over the years.”
That sounded…perfect.
An isolated lair, a huge library, beautiful artwork, and Cezar all to herself.
“You liked being alone?” she demanded.
“At times, but I always knew that something was missing.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “A part of myself.”
A blush touched her cheeks as she studied the bronzed, elegant features. “Did you ever take women to your lair?”
He seemed startled by her question. “A vampire never shares his most private lair with another. Not until he mates.” His roaming fingers outlined her lips. “Someday I hope to take you there.”
Anna pulled away, regarding him with a sudden flare of hope. “Why can’t we go now? Maybe if we hide there long enough Morgana will forget about what that stupid seer predicted. I mean, prophecies are never accurate. Not unless you count a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that is so vague it could mean anything.”
His dark eyes narrowed. “How do you know of the prophecy?”
She did her own bit of eye-narrowing. “How do you know?” she charged back.
“It was written in one of Jagr’s books.”
“Oh.”
He grasped her chin. “Anna?”
“Clara the Fairy spilled the beans.”
“What did she say?” he demanded. “Tell me exactly.”
Anna heaved a rough sigh. The sooner she could put Clara and her horrid death from her mind the better.
“She said that some seer had claimed that an heir of Arthur would climb or appear or something from the darkness and condemn Morgana to hell.”
Cezar gave a slow nod. “And she believes you’re the heir?”
Anna made a rude noise. “It doesn’t matter to her if I am or not, she’s made it a mission to kill all of Arthur’s heirs just to be on the safe side.”
A lethal fury flashed through his eyes before he made an effort to smother his instinctive reaction. Anna didn’t doubt her mate would rip the limbs right off the Queen of Fairies if he could get his hands on her.
Not the most pleasant image.
“Anna, she will not stop this madness until we have managed to defeat her,” he rasped.
She heaved a rueful sigh as the dream of disappearing into Cezar’s remote lair was shattered. He was right, of course. If she’d learned nothing else over the past few days, it was that her lunatic aunt was nothing if not freaking persistent.
“Did you happen to pick up a clue in Jagr’s books as to how we’re supposed to do that? Some secret Kryptonite that will steal her powers or turn her into a frog?”