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Josiah was not a Reader; Carliff was. She had gained some of Dynarien's and Pieface's magical and physical gifts with the blood transfusion through the spell in a bonding that went as deep as the genes and cells themselves. She thought about Carliff's words, running them through her mind again and again. She knew nothing, really, about vampires beyond how to hunt and kill them. Carliff had nothing to gain by lying about newborn vampires seeking out those they loved and killing them. If that was, indeed, the nature of their hunger, then by taking Hoon's blood she had doubly betrayed them. Hoon had nothing to lose by lying to her and everything to gain. No. He had not lied, so much as misled. He had promised her free will, not self-control. She had assumed the rest. She felt filled with shame and guilt. What would be the price of redemption? If she could even win it? Page 284 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Aejys remembered Tamlestari's grief at Cassana's death and her imagination doubled it as she pictured her beloved weeping over the dead bodies of their children, knowing their ma'aram had killed them. She shuddered. Maybe it was not wise to try and walk in another's shoes. She had accepted her ma'aram's pain as her own in that confrontation that led to her making that vow. If somehow she could have stepped outside it, found her center and held there against Kaethreyn's tears. "The road to damnation is cobbled with good intentions." She heard the bubbling rush of a stream and turned from the road onto the side. Aejys pushed aside the bushes and flowering shrubs. The stream ran right beside the road there and a drinking cup lay beside it. Kneeling, she considered the cup. It seemed an incredible thing that just as her thirst was becoming unbearable she should not only find a stream, but a cup. She regarded them suspiciously, remembering how Laurelyanne had spelled her glass and put her to sleep when her grief over the loss of Ladonys and Laeoli had been unbearable. She scooped water in her twisted hands and drank, watching the cup from the corner of her eye. She splashed water on her face. It felt good. Then she caught the sound of large wings, larger than any bird, yet when she looked she saw nothing. There were supposed to be guardians on the mountain. Had she just heard one of them? She hurried back to the road and continued to walk. By late afternoon she could see the top and began to wonder about Carliff's warnings. The voice whispered in her ear, and she faltered a few steps, looking about her in confusion, but there was no one there. A chill swept over her. She picked up her pace. An itch crawled up her throat and down her tongue as she remembered the wondrous taste of Hoon's blood; the strange mix of anguish and ecstasy as his fangs broke the skin on her throat. Her twisted fingers brushed the twin wounds on her neck. "No!" Aejys covered her ears, scarcely noticing that she walked slower and slower. Her heart raced, her loins grew wet, and she shivered at the thought of his touch. She hated him hated and yet wanted. Mine will not. Wait for me. > "Hoon! You bastard!" Bastard ... Bastard ... bastard. She shivered. Her shivers worsened into violent trembling. She wanted him. Her nipples grew sensitive, tingling with need. Her loins ached for him. She could hardly breathe. but love me. My blood has passed your lips. > "Get out of my mind! Damn you!" Aejys stumbled and fell, curling for a moment on the ground. It felt so good to be sitting. She had to wait for someone. Someone she loved was coming for her. They would sit together and laugh about old times, looking forward to better times. They would feed and drink and then lie together in the sweet grasses beneath a full moon. His blood would run down her throat while hers filled his mouth. Death had such a sweet taste. "Josiah. Tamlestari." Page 285 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html As if their names were a talisman, she broke loose from the dream and sprang to her feet, chanting their names as she began to jog. "Josiah. Josiah. Josiah. Tamlestari. Estari. Estari. Loyal heart, forgive me." your lips. You belong to me! > "No. They are my loves. Not you! Never you! If I rose tomorrow it would be to rip your throat out, your head off, and eat your heart." Even as she said it she knew it was a lie. She wanted him. She felt Hoon's rage like a blow to the stomach and she staggered, falling to her knees. She leaped up, breaking into a run, going full out. blood with me. > "I will throw myself into the fires of Mt. Queleyus before I will ever be like you." Oh, Gods! Gods, help me. I want him. I want him so much. She guessed that she was now only three hundred yards from the top, about the length of a practice field. She would make it. * * * * Hoon sat on the crimson velvet couch in the tower room where he held his private rites. His face was deep in concentration as he exercised his innate ability as a vampire to speak into the minds of those whose blood he had tasted or had tasted his. It was an extension of his gift for fascination. All vampires had it, it was how they subdued their prey long enough to get their fangs into them. Mephistis knelt on the floor, tightening the ropes that held his newest prize: a captured ha'taren from the occupied zone. He had tired of listening to her attempts to call down her liege-god's wrath upon him and cut her tongue out. He judged her to be very near to Aejys' innermost nature, someone who [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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