“Don’t you dare pity me,” I grated, feverish fury coursing through my veins.
“I’m not like them,” he added somberly. “How can I get you to trust me?”
“I’ll never trust you.”
“Because we are all the same to you?”
“As I’ve said. A Roman is a Roman.”
Holding my gaze, he slipped a hand into the folds of his tunic and pulled out a small dagger.
Finally, I was going to see the true Trajan, the beast within.
Tilting my chin higher, I offered my neck. “If you think I’m afraid of death, you are wrong. He has been my constant companion for too many years.”
His eyes brightened to icy crystals, but he said nothing as he lifted his hand, palm up, and sliced a cut across the fleshy part. I frowned, confused, as he lifted the bleeding wound toward me.
“Take my blood.”
I stood straight, no longer leaning against the tree trunk, my heart beating harder. “I could kill you if I wanted.”
“Yes,” he added, voice a velvety caress beneath the moonlight. “I saw Valerius’s body, remember? You could do the same to me.” He held his arm out farther, offering himself.
I didn’t want to kill him. The shock of it sped my heart faster. I didn’t want to harm him at all, which was a remarkable revelation.
Wrapping my fingers around his thick wrist, I lifted his hand closer. A calling, a craving had me whispering to his blood. “Come closer.” A few drops of blood slid from the cut, obeying my command. A burst of energy flowed through me, having never felt this level of magic before. I licked the drops that pooled on the tip of his finger.
That scintillating buzz of euphoria blazed like fire through my body. I gasped as the magic took hold hard and fast. His blood burned like wildfire through my veins, speeding my pulse, winding deeper and deeper. My magic and his blood fused, wrapping my soul in heat and a euphoric sense of rightness, belonging.
I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to feel this sensation, this connection. Not with anyone. Least of all a Roman dragon.
“Drop your dagger,” I commanded.
He did.
“Kneel.”
Instantly, he was on his knees, no longer towering over me. Powercoursed through me, more intoxicating than anything I’d felt before, even more than when I’d entranced and killed Valerius.
The fact that he’d offered his blood freely heightened the sensation. He’d given me the power to do anything to him. I could kill him now if I wanted. But I didn’t. Still, I wanted answers. I wanted truths.
“Do not lie to me,” I ordered. “Do you have intentions to hurt me in any way?”
“No,” he answered instantly.
The echo of truth sang in the air. Electricity encircled us beneath the boughs of olive trees and the filtering moonlight. It whispered along my skin, raising gooseflesh.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
His gaze—all blue fire—burned bright and hot. “I want your help.”
“If I help you,” I began, noting that my body still trembled with the taste of his blood, “will you help me escape Rome?”
“Yes,” he answered rapidly, “I will get you safely out of Rome whether you help me or not.”
I stared, somewhat shocked. He couldn’t lie to me when under my power, my bloodsinger magic. A wind gusted through the olive tree branches, moonlight dappling his upturned face, his expression genuine. Not that it mattered, he could not lie to me. That thought spurred me on.
“Why do you want to kill the emperor?”
