"Bul shite!" His accent slipped yet again.
"Chase, even if I could dreamcast, how could I do it ... when I'm wearing a torque?"
He swal owed. No, no, anything's possible in the Lore. Another being could have affected him, or Regin could even have done this to him before he'd captured her.
"Face it. You are a berserker, and you are a reincarnate."
If I'm one of them, the Order will kill me. His eyes darted. No, she's got me spooked. This isn't real.
When he gave a hard shake of his head, she said, "Then how do you explain your strength and speed? Unless you take top-secret military speed or hyper-steroids to hulk out?"
"I do nothing to make myself stronger." Just the opposite.
"Then what?"
Blood that wasn't my own. "Maybe I was nicked in a battle with one of your kind and was exposed to tainted immortal blood. Perhaps I've picked up traits of the creatures I hunt."
"That's not how it works. You can't just pick up traits. At least, not permanently. Not unless you die with one's blood in your veins and get transformed into an immortal."
Maybe he wasn't turning into a Neoptera?
She grinned at him as she asked, "You haven't died yet, have you?"
I ... don't know. Those beings could have done any manner of things to him over those days and nights.
His heart sped up as he tried to pierce that haze. Damn them all to hell, a man should know if he's died or not.
As if she'd read his mind, she said, "If you hate us this badly, then you or someone you love was hurt by immortals. Considering your scars ..." She pointed to the ones on his face, the ones that were relatively invisible compared to the rest covering his body.
"So you have me all figured out."
"You're not denying it, then. I'm guessing your parents were kil ed?"
Killed was too mild a word for what the Neoptera had done to them. Those creatures had voracious mouths that opened vertical y, their lips razor-sharp for cutting flesh. Their tongues were prehensile, stretching inches long.
Declan had felt them probe beneath his skin. Now he barely stifled a shudder.
"Chase?"
"You didn't guess a wife and children," he said absently. "Though most would, considering my age."
"No, you've never been married."
"And how could you know that?"
"In all your lifetimes, you've never even had a relationship with another. I'll bet you've never slept with the same woman twice."
Dead on. "Why would you say that?"
"You hate it with others. You feel sick afterward." In a softer tone, she said, "Because you're missing what we had and want to stay true."
He clenched his jaw, recal ing all the times he'd barely kept from vomiting, remembering with humiliation the times he hadn't. ...
"Aidan-"
His gloved hand shot up. In an instant he had her hair wrapped around his fist, yanking her head down. "Do not cal me by that name again, Valkyrie. This will be your last warning."
"Okay, fine," she said mildly, but her eyes had flashed.
Silvery eyes gazing up at me, with her hair coiled around my fist as I guide her down ...
He released her with disgust.
She was undaunted. "Let's talk in your room. Take me there."
"Why would I possibly do that?"
"Because that's where your bed is, and that's where I belong."
He imagined her in his bed as she'd been in that dream, spread out like an offering, her bared skin alight. Her thighs would be parted with blatant need, those golden curls slick with it. ...
Duty, purpose, he repeated urgently.
"Come on, Chase."
"Tel me, if I take you to my room and put you in my bed, what do you think would happen?"
"I can draw you a diagram. Hint: I'm slot B, and you're tab A."
"I meant the ultimate outcome. Do you think I'll free you if you please me enough? You're not the first detrus who's tried to whore for her freedom."
"Whore for my freedom?" She laughed again. "What if I just wanted to whore for whoring's sake? Maybe I miss sex with you. Maybe I crave it."
"Wouldn't be surprising. Most immortal females behave like they're in heat."
Her brows rose. "You are the one who taught me about pleasure."
Memories from that dream continued to arise unbidden. -Press your lips here, Reginleit.- "And now in another lifetime, you ridicule me for missing it? Come on, Chase. Take me to where you live. Scared I'll find some footy pajamas? A Fleshlight? I want a bath almost as much as you need to watch me take one. I get so much more talkative when I'm clean. Loreans are real y fastidious, you know."
"I do know that. The sole aspect of your kind that's positive." He leaned back in his chair. "This subject ends now."
She sighed. "Stubborn. Just like a man I knew whose name starts with A."
"I'm not this Aidan you revere. I'm nothing like him."
"You're so similar it's uncanny. You're both warriors, the strongest and best at what you do. That's been the same with each of the reincarnations."
Curiosity got the best of him, and he asked, "What were the others?"
"You've been a knight, a privateer, and a cavalry officer. Warriors all . Yet each embodiment emphasizes specific facets of Aidan's personality. The first was Treves, a medieval French knight, notorious across Europe. He represented Aidan's ruthlessness and power."
"How did you meet him?"
"Fate. We were both in France one winter for a castle siege."
"Shouldn't you have been in Valhal a?"
Sadness flashed in her expression. "I never get to go back to Valhal a. Once you leave, you're forbidden to return." Before he could ask her about that, she continued, "Lucia-she's my favorite sister -and I were defending the old Earl of Lanbert's castle."
"Why?"
"Lanbert's forefathers hailed from the North, and his line still worshipped the Valkyrie. Lucia and I decided to reward their prayers and offerings-by pledging swords and bow to the defense of their home. Plus, we were bored out of our gourds."
"Was Treves another all y?"
"Not at all . You see, we were defending the castle against you."
Chapter NINETEEN
Against me?" Chase raised his brows.
"Uh-huh. Castle-taking was your thing. You 'commandeered' key strongholds for King Philip all over Europe, and you'd set your sights on Lanbert's keep." Regin drew her calves under her to sit cross- legged on his desk, daring him to say something. Getting comfy when cuffed was damned near impossible.