Then again, never had a vampire barreled through all of my defenses as if they never existed to him. I wanted him, craved him even. But as my release quieted and he healed the bites, fear edged its way through my mind.
“If I was to feed another, would that sickness happen again?”
Lord Azad paused as he pulled up my bodice before smoothing my sleeves over my shoulders. “Yes, it would.”
That had not been the case for my mother. She’d been blood mates to three different immortals, but she had never been unable to feed another. Granted, in the outer city our pool of regular immortals was much smaller than in Oylen. Most vampires were coming from the inner city or else from a neighboring town like Chynon because the prices were cheaper and the threat of the Covenant less imposing.
“Is the bond different for everyone?”
He shifted me off his lap and knelt, guided me to step into my underwear and pulled them up my thighs. I shivered at the brush of his cold hands on my skin, followed by the press of his lips to my leg.
“An invoked bond is the same for everyone,” he answered, smoothing the wrinkles in my worn dress and then encouraging me to sit. Instead of settling beside me, he circled to the back of the settee, ran his fingers through my hair and untangled the locks. “But once sealed they can strengthen and manifest in slightly different ways.”
“I did not know there was a difference.” My mother had never said anything about invocation or sealing.
He hummed. “One must drink from their mate while they are joined with the intention of sealing the bond to do so. Until then the bond is only invoked. I feel the call of the mating bond, the…urge to protect and care for you. But I cannot hear your thoughts directly or find you without your scent to lead me.”
My heart twisted in my chest. So it was the invoked bond that encouraged him to care for me because my blood appealed to him. I swallowed down the acid rising in my throat, cursing myself for the disappointment seeping through my bones. “It sounds much like when a human or Lycan drinks a vampire’s blood.”
He twisted my hair at the nape of my neck. “It is. Hand me your pin.”
I felt around the cushion beside me for the tarnished pin I used to keep my hair up and handed it to him. “Then what is the difference?”
He secured the twist in place, leaning down to press a kiss to where my neck met my shoulder. “One is temporary, the other is not.”
Lord Azad came around the settee, lowered to one knee and covered my hands with his. His eyes were bright from the feeding, gold swirling across his irises, with a slight flush in his golden-brown cheeks. But unlike with other immortals, I could not see the hint of the man he had been however manythousands of years ago. All I could find was his magic, his strength, and the preternatural stillness that crept upon them with age—as if he were carved from stone.
“Would you consider taking my blood?”
A pounding began in my temple and I found I could not look at him. Unbidden, the image of my mother floated back to me when she had been younger, before life had leached away her beauty. My father with his arms wrapped around her middle. Her body bent double with her screams as she reached for the locked door. The words repeated over and over:He left me, he left me, he’s gone.
What could I say to this male before me? To deny him would be to risk losing his patronage, and was I not now reliant upon him to support myself and my family if what he said was true?
He tracked each small movement of my face and reached up to smooth the furrow between my brows. “I will not force you to do anything you do not want, Adrienne.”
I caught his wrist with my hand, giving in to the urge to press it to my cheek, and nodded, though he knew it was not in agreement to his offer. He blew out a breath, lifting his free hand until he was cradling my face.
“Time will teach you that I am not your enemy, my heart, and I am willing to wait as long as it takes.”
Rising to his feet, Lord Azad pressed his lips to mine. His attention snagged on an empty corner of the room for a moment before he kissed me again. “May I call on you tomorrow?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Tomorrow is my day off. I planned to spend it at Cavera lan Aiyah.”
He nodded. “Of course. If you ever wanted, you are welcome to my estate any time day or night to play your pianoforte as well.”
In only a few strides he went to the curtain and I stood. “That is not my pianoforte.”
Lord Azad’s smile was blinding as he turned to me, the curtain drawn back with one hand. “Yes, it is, little bird.”
Noah arrivedat dawn to walk us back to the townhome. Someone had been there in our absence, judging by the full pitcher of water and the remnants of a simple meal at her bedside, but Jules had not improved at all. She clutched a handkerchief in her fist and my stomach swooped as a splatter of blood peeked through her fingers.
“How did she do?” Jules rasped while Lilith was in the kitchen.
I perched on the mattress beside her. “You’ve trained her well. She was perfect.”
“And you? How was Lord Durham?”
Tonight had been his usual night to visit—in all the chaos I’d forgotten. I kept my face smooth but her sleek brows still pulled together. “Exuberant as always.”
