He stepped forward and his ears flattened against his skul . He was treading cautiously.
"I did not fear she was touched by madness." Renata"s fingers traced circles against my lower back and I shuddered.
Ah well, Cuinn said, now ye know for certain she is not.
Renata dipped her head in acknowledgement.
Cuinn asked, What do ye know about my kind?
I didn"t know who he was talking to, but Renata answered.
"Very little," she said. "I know that there were once swords of great power, and within them, within every fiber of their making, they were infused with a spirit." She tilted her head. "Celts, was it not?"
Aye, he said, It was, druids namely. He set back on his haunches. I must admit I am curious to know how I fell into the hands of a vampire.
"I"ve no aid to give there, volpe. I only know that it has been with the Rosso Lussuria since before I was Queen."
"Why wouldn"t you know how you got here?" I asked him.
I have been sleeping for a very long time.
"Wel , why didn"t you wake up?"
He shook his head. That is not the nature of a spirit sword, he said. We awaken when one worthy wields our blades.
"You"re starting to make al of this sound so very sword-in-the-stone-esque," I said.
The comment made his face burst into a delightful little fox grin. Aye, with every myth there"s a grain of truth.
"You"re not going to start spouting some, "you are the chosen one," lines, are you?"
Renata laughed. "You have been spending too much time in the library."
Cuinn shook his head. Nay, but you were in the right place at the right time.
"Or you were," I said.
Aye.
"I had wondered," Renata mused, "how Epiphany had beaten Gaspare."
Cuinn"s eyes narrowed. It wasn"t a human gesture, but it was a gesture of defense nonetheless. Are ye accusing her of cheating?
"I could," Renata said blankly.
The fox slowly began to smile, and then he let out a bark of laughter. My ears seemed to hear the barking, but my mind heard a boy"s laughter, not quite a man"s, but it was the closest thing my mind could make sense of. I realized, though I had been thinking of Cuinn as male, he had an amazingly androgynous voice.
"Why do you laugh, volpe? It could very wel happen if any of the Elders figure this out. Epiphany could be accused of cheating."
Cuinn clicked his jaw shut, but he was stil smiling. Nay, he said and stood on al fours again, coming closer. I felt the line of his furred body sliding against my back, over Renata"s hand. " T was not cheating if it was her power that called me. If I remember your laws correctly.
"How would you know our laws unless you once belonged to a vampire?" Renata asked. I too, wondered.
Nay. I did not.
"How do you know then?"
"Cause I know you are not believing what you"re saying.
"Clever and intuitive," she said dryly.
Aye, not so easily fooled, am I.
"Epiphany," she said and I looked at her. "A word of advice. He may have saved your life, but he is a fox."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
We"re notorious tricksters. That"s what she"s trying to tell you. I am bound to you and through that binding I cannot, unfortunately, lie. If ye knew anything about spirit swords ye"d know that.
Renata appeared thoughtful enough that I asked, "Is this true?"
She shrugged.
Cuinn began walking back toward his den.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
Now that I"ve helped to clear everything up with your Queen. He yawned. I"m going back to sleep.
I opened my eyes to find we were stil in my room. I was stil straddling Renata, but she had fal en back in the bed. My stomach sank. She looked up at me from where she laid, hair spil ing out like dark waters. She touched my cheek.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard Cuinn give a little yip of laughter.
Chapter Nine.
I couldn"t tel whether Cuinn was sleeping or whether he was merely giving us the il usion of privacy. I got to my knees and Renata"s fingers laced around my wrist, stopping me.
"Epifania," she said it softly, almost tenderly.
I struggled, caught between uncertainty and desire.
"It has been years since you"ve said my name that way."
She propped herself up on elbows, bringing our bodies dangerously close.
"What way?" she breathed the words.
"Like it"s something sweet on your tongue." I turned away, wil ing myself not to look at her.
She touched my cheek much as she had earlier.
"It was always more than your name that was sweet upon my tongue."
An unseen vice gripped my chest. I tried to pul my hand away, and Renata"s grip tightened at my wrist. As if we were doing a graceful dance, she fol owed me as I sat up, trying to get out of the bed. I moved back once, twice. My right knee caught the edge and I lost my balance. Renata caught me before I toppled over the edge. She pul ed me in against her body, close enough I could feel the swel of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against mine.
The smile I had seen in so many memories curved in soft amus.e.m.e.nt. Her eyes danced with unexpected pa.s.sion and curiosity. I remembered that look. How could I forget? It was a blessing that I did not dream. I feared that if I had dreamt in the past two hundred years, they would"ve been fil ed with that knowing smile, that spark of unrestrained pa.s.sion and amus.e.m.e.nt.
"Renata, not again, not this game."
She held my face in her hands gently, touching my cheeks with tentative fingers, as if I would break, as if she could feel some fragility etched in my bones.
"Yes," she said, trailing her nails lightly down my skin, using the opening of my blouse to mark a path on it. Her hands traveled lower, until I felt her fingers working deftly at the b.u.t.tons.
I swal owed past the burning st.i.tch in my throat.
"Epiphany," she said, her fingers stil ed on the last b.u.t.ton. "Look at me."
I did, feeling her free the last b.u.t.ton. Her hands moved to my shoulders as she brushed the silk aside. So light, so gentle, so very careful. I"d tried to force myself to forget Renata was capable of such tenderness.
The silk fel in a caress of fabric halfway down my arms. The air was warm on my skin. She trailed the tips of her fingers over my col arbones and her nails dug in lightly, carving an invisible path over the tops of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I shut my eyes.
"Do you want me to stop?" It was the last thing I expected to hear from her. But lightly, hesitantly, I shook my head.
Had I been stronger of wil , I might"ve said yes. But somewhere inside of me was a moth that craved the burn of her flame, that didn"t want her to stop.
I moved toward her, letting the silken shirt fal to the bed.
"No." It was the barest of whispers.
"Lay back."
I did, waiting.
Renata slipped her fingers beneath the waistband of my pants. She drew the material down my legs, watching, as if some part of her savored the sight of the dark fabric sliding away to reveal my pale skin underneath.
Once, she had told me she took pleasure in such a thing. Whether the look in her eyes now was a truth or lie, I did not care.
I simply wanted that look.
Her fingers hesitated at my ankles. "You wil not accuse me of rape?" Amus.e.m.e.nt lilted her tone.
My words came out strangled. "You broke my heart once. How much worse can it hurt than the first time?"
Renata laughed, but it wasn"t a happy one. It was a laugh fil ed with sorrow, of things that had been lost.
"Oh, Epiphany." The look she gave me was the closest to sympathy I"d ever seen from her. "I never meant to break your heart."
Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. "But you did." I almost choked on the words. "I craved death"s sweet kiss when you cast me out."
The look she gave me was compa.s.sionate and sad. "You are already dead, my sweet."
I shook my head as a tear broke free. The cool dampness of it tickled down my cheek. "You know what I mean. I wanted to die for good, Renata. I lay in bed for hours. I thought of you and wished you had never spared me my fate." I gave a bitter laugh, choking on it. "You broke me in a way, even to this day, I do not understand."
Renata placed a finger over my lips. "I did what I did out of care for you. Do you not see that?"
"I remember too much," I spoke around her finger. "I feel too much, too much of the emptiness you left behind."
"Then feel me," she said climbing my body and sliding her thigh between my legs. "Feel this."
She pushed the hair out of my face, fingers shadowing the path my tears had taken. Her palm cupped my cheek and I turned my face, brushing my lips across her skin.
With trembling fingers I drew her head down to me, whispering her name.
"What do you want?" she said.
"Make love to me," I said, my words trembling only slightly less than my hands. "Fix what you broke inside of me."
Her long lashes fluttered like raven wings. "I wil try."
I sank my hands into her hair, twining the darkened tresses around my arms like silken shackles. She kissed me, a gentle brush of her lips. I used the grip I had in her hair to raise off the bed. I kissed her, opening my mouth and exploring the hot cavern of her with my tongue. Renata kissed me back, using her body to pin mine to the mattress below us.
She broke the kiss, catching my wrists in her hands. Her fingers cinched tightly and I unclenched my fists. Slowly, she drew my hands out of her hair.
"I thought this was supposed to be healing?" She guided my arms behind my back and jerked me against her. Her lips slid over my brow.
I shuddered. "Is it not?"
She drew away with a devious glint in her eyes. "It wil not be if you taunt me into losing control."
I wiggled and her grip on my wrists tightened, encouraging my blood to pump faster.
"Please," I said.
"Please what?"
"Please," I pleaded.
She laughed, slipping her hand between my legs. Her fingers splayed and parted me.
"Please?" Her voice dripped with honey as she touched me. "Please this?"
"Yes." I moaned as she slid her fingers inside me.