“I might ask, rather, what have you done to me, Ariana Summers?” Quinn spoke quietly as he opened his eyes and her breath caught to see their passionate burn. “For alchemy such as this… is not the norm for a Master’s Kiss.”
“You mean passionate fucking isn’t the usual when you bring someone into the fold?” Ariana joked wryly, since she had no idea how to approach how insanely intimate she suddenly felt with Quinn, his power roiling all through her now in dark, sensual waves.
“Not at all.” He spoke, sober but intense as he regarded her. “To take a Master’s Kiss under normal circumstances is a deep mutual understanding. But these are not normal circumstances. And our understanding… is far more than deep.”
Reaching up, Ariana rubbed her chest, feeling a slight pain deep inside where her broken rib had pierced her heart – and Quinn had saved her. “I died. But you saved me.”
“You have Vampire power in your magic, as do I. It has dominion over death.” He spoke softly back, though his gaze was intense now. “But I had to perform the Master’s Kiss without your permission, Ariana. It is the first time I have brought someone into the Dark Haven of Florence without a very explicit agreement. But you were dying and I had no other options. Can you forgive me?” As Ariana watched him, Quinn’s vibrant presence suddenly faded into the marble perfection she had seen when they’d first met. It saddened her to see him be so carefully cold now when they had just shared so much. Reaching out, Ariana set her hand to his sculpted chest; and he brightened with a wave of heat, reaching up to touch her fingers.
“You saved me.” She spoke at last. “I do want to hash out just what this means between us, because my freedom is important to me. But… what I’m feeling now…”
“I understand.” Quinn answered with a soft smile, no guile in him as he cradled her hand to his chest. Deep beneath his luminous skin and impressively cut musculature, Ariana could feel his heart’s regal beats – faster now that they’d been joined by his Master’s Kiss.
“Your heart’s beating faster.” Ariana observed in the midnight hush.
“You make my blood rise,” Quinn answered as a humorous quirk lifted his lips. “In more ways than one.”
“The austere Master of Florence has a sense of humor.” Ariana commented, suddenly loving this strangely amusing and tender side of Quinn.
“At times.” He gave a small smile now, though he soon sobered. “Ariana. What we discussed by the river… no one knows I was once Prince of the Summer Fae, except for a very few people. It would put the Dark Haven seriously at risk if even Devi or Curio were aware of my… status.”
“That you were once a Fae Prince.” Gazing up at Quinn, Ariana watched him a long moment as something deep moved inside her; reaching up, she cupped his jaw. “You still care about the Summer Fae, don’t you? Even if your days being a Royal in their ruling house are gone, you still care about what happens to them.” Ariana understood, feeling a spark of sunlit fire and passion still burning inside Quinn. As she spoke, she could feel the slow beat of his heart as if it were inside her own chest now. And though it did not beat as fast or as fervently as hers, it was there all the same.
Alive in a way other Vampires just weren’t.
“I care about my Dark Haven, too.” Quinn answered quietly as he watched her. “My Vampires are precious to me. I will not abandon them to try and help the Summer Fae if they do not wish to be helped. Though I still feel for them. And I… miss them.” Turning his head, Quinn kissed Ariana’s palm again as he held her with his dark onyx eyes. Fire had ceased to burn in him, but Ariana could still feel his passion, and knew that it had been an immensely long time since Quinn’s passions had stirred like this. As he watched her, he took a deep breath.
And then said something she didn’t expect.
“I had thought to use you for my own aims, Ariana.” He spoke as his satin-smooth voice echoed in the nighttime catacomb. “But I see now that you are so much more than I had ever anticipated. Tonight, Lucca and I bared our hearts to you by that waterfall… and just now when I gave you my Master’s Kiss, I’m not really sure who was master or servant as we intertwined. Feeling your energy run through me now, I’m still not sure. Previously, I had thought to wield you for my own use – but now I find myself spilling all my secrets to you and placing my very life in your hands. Something about you, about your magic, calls a person to speak their utter truth. And to give everything… to find a better way.”
“What are you saying?” Ariana asked as they watched each other.
“I’m saying,” Quinn spoke soberly as he took her hand down and cradled it to his slow-beating heart, “that I find myself wantingmorefor my life than I have ever considered before. I find hope inside myself for the first time since I was turned to the Life of the Night. Hope that life could be better; that I could be better than these constant Vampire games of manipulation and darkness I’ve been embroiled in for centuries. Perhaps I have claimed you into the Dark Haven of Florence with this Master’s Kiss, but perhaps… you have claimed me. And perhaps that could be advantageous for us both.”
“Advantageous.” Ariana frowned at him now, though it was so very Quinn to have suddenly turned their intense night together to his political aims. “Are you saying you still want to try to manipulate me for your goals?”
“I’m saying I want you to think aboutyourgoals in Vampire and Fae society, Ariana,” he spoke gently as he reached out, smoothing a lock of hair back from her face and whispering his knuckles over her cheek. “Because if you have the power to get a Fae Prince and a Master Vampire to reveal their darkest secrets to you in a single night, even as unruly as your magic still is, then you are a force to be reckoned with. There is something inside you that calls a person to… heal. To bare all secrets and unveil all wounds so they can be blessed by the healing light of the moon. Because of this strange power, I believe you will become a major player among the Vampire and Fae. Prince Lucca and I won’t be the only ones to notice. And indeed, haven’t been.”
Frowning at Quinn’s suggestions, Ariana paused in the night. “You and Lucca seem to share so much still, as if you still understand each other. How is that you both became so wrathful towards each other over the centuries?”
Smiling gently now, Quinn tucked a lock of Ariana’s red hair back behind her ear. “Come. The night passes and we have been through much. Let us retire, and we can speak of your future rather than dwell upon my past. I have a feeling all secrets will eventually tumble out with you… but for now, they are a tender thing. Suffice it to say that though Lucca and I were once close, we are not anymore. I have tried for centuries to ease his fury at me – to no avail. And I will not apologize for what I did, not even with my very last breath upon this earth.”
“Because it saved his life.” Ariana knew, feeling the depth of Quinn’s anguish as they shared emotions now with their newly-entwined magics.
“And I willneverapologize for that.” Quinn spoke with passion now as he stared Ariana down. A ring of fire flashed in his eyes, making him look both beautiful and terrible, even though Ariana knew now that it was the remnants of his old Summer Fae power flashing in his eyes when he became impassioned. Rising from the stone bier, Quinn extended his hand. As Ariana slipped from the bier, he moved in close so she slid decadently down his hard, lean body until her feet touched the cold ground. It left her pressed close against him as he cradled her with his long, powerful hands.
As his body warmed against hers – vibrant and full of life.
“Gods of the Dark, what you do to me.” He breathed as he held her, and Ariana shivered from the scintillating sensation moving between them. As he lowered his head, whispering his lips over hers, she fell into it, lifting up to her tiptoes to kiss him. But the furious heat of their lovemaking had passed, and as Quinn kissed her with a dark growl in his throat, Ariana winced – feeling his fang-marks in her lower lip. As if he’d felt it, he pulled back, concern in his onyx eyes.
“Forgive me, I didn’t mean to bite you earlier.” He breathed as he frowned. “The Master’s Kiss can be transferred without quite so much bloodshed; a single drop will suffice. I simply… lost control in the heat of the moment.”
“I think I did, too.” Ariana spoke as she reached up, touching Quinn’s lips and finding matching bites upon his lower lip, though hers were smaller. “I can’t believe I manifested fangs.”
“Fangs can be manifested by either Vampire or Fae,” Quinn chuckled now as he gave her an amused glance. “Only Fae try to hide their bestial nature, whereas Vampires don’t. We are not different, Ariana. We are two sides of the same magic, the Light and the Night.”
“And a Dark Fae is caught in-between.” She commented, having felt her position between the two magics deeply tonight.
