She laughed softly. “You can hardly take the blame for our lovemaking, Gabriel. That was entirely my doing.”
A small smile flitted across his face. “I do not know if I can honestly say that is so, but I think you have had enough adventure for several risings.”
“You must learn to say days or nights,” she corrected gently. “This is the age of computers. It is dangerous how quickly information can be exchanged. You have been away a long time. I know you assimilate information at a rapid rate but technology is making things much more difficult to hide our presence from the world. You are used to a world where the human threat is nearly nonexistent, but that has changed with the age of computers.” His hand brushed hers and without thinking she entwined her fingers with his as they began to stroll along the sidewalk.
“I must admit I have never considered humans a threat; they are easily managed.”
“You sound very arrogant, Gabriel, although I sense you don’t mean to be. Our people are in dire straits, our race all but doomed. I keep up on the news in a roundabout way, so I know what is going on. There are some human women with extraordinary psychic talent who are compatible with our race. The Prince of our people has a lifemate who once was human.”
There were several moments of silence. Once again, without conscious thought, Gabriel had reached out to share this new knowledge with Lucian. He touched his twin easily, lightly, as he had done for nearly two thousand years. Lucian was immersed in a complicated text he was finding highly interesting. That always astonished Gabriel. That Lucian had retained his need for knowledge. He had always been a sponge soaking up information. Now he reciprocated, sharing all that he had learned of the modern world, flooding Gabriel with so many facts, he began to laugh.
“What is it?” Francesca asked softly, seeing genuine affection for just a moment in the depths of his eyes.
Gabriel broke the contact instantly, swearing softly in the ancient language. Why didn’t he think? It had never mattered before, his ingrained habit of reaching out to his brother. Even after Lucian had turned, he hadn’t fought the habit. Why should he bother? The more knowledge they each had, the better the battle. It was very different now. This time it could cost Francesca her life. Gabriel had battled Lucian many times over the last few centuries.
He had inflicted mortal wounds on more than one occasion, yet he had never bested Lucian, never managed to destroy him. He had no reason to think the outcome of their battle would be any different now. He could not afford the luxury of a mistake. Lucian must not know of Francesca’s existence.
“What is it?” Francesca repeated, this time shaking his arm. “You went from smiling happily to looking like a wolf, your eyes still and watchful. What happened in so short a time?” Her voice was soft and compelling, a mixture of concern and compassion.
Gabriel shook his head. “I have made mistake after mistake. Resting these centuries has done me little good. It is confusing to wake and feel emotions, to see colors. Everything is vivid and bright. Emotions are violent and raw, hard to keep under control. There is an ever-present craving in my body for yours.”
Gabriel was speaking so thoughtfully, so matter-of-factly, Francesca felt he was musing aloud.
“I led that vampire straight to you, you know that.” Gabriel raked a hand through the shiny mass of his blue-black hair. “All this time, you successfully managed to hide. Now I have called attention to your presence, and he will not be the only one to seek you out.”
He stopped and faced her, his hand curling around the nape of her neck. “I should never have made my claim without your consent. I should have sought your safety above my own needs and desires. I have wronged you in an unforgivable way.”
Francesca touched his mouth. His words and the sincerity in his voice were turning her world upside down. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore. Away from him it was all so clear, but when he was close and he allowed her to see into his tortured soul, she felt altogether different. “You could not have taken my body so easily, Gabriel, had I not wished it to be so. I was not under compulsion.”
His fingers were massaging the back of her neck, his thumbs brushing intimately along the delicate line of her jaw. Each caress sent heat spiraling through her body and little flames dancing over her skin. Lost in his regret, Gabriel didn’t seem to notice the way her body responded to his touch. “I woke you with the command to come to me in need. Your body responded to that command and to my deliberate arousal of you. I should have waited until you had time to know me. You should have been courted the way you deserved.”
“It wasn’t just you, Gabriel. I am no fledging. I recognized the ‘push’ as I awakened. I am not without power of my own. You couldn’t have taken me so easily without my consent. I wanted you. I wanted to feel you, to feel what it was like.” She confessed it bravely, taking her share of the blame without hesitation. “You were not forcing my compliance. In any case, sooner or later the Carpathian cycle would have begun and we would have had little choice in the matter.”
“I said the ritual words to bind us without your consent.”
“Males do so all the time, Gabriel. It is the way of our people and has been so for thousands of years. You have not done anything so unforgivable. This situation is difficult for both of us.”
He dropped his arms and swung away from her. “Why do you accept these things so easily, Francesca? Why do you not condemn me as you should? Your anger would go a long way toward...” He shoved his hand through his hair again. “There I go again, wanting it to be easy. I am selfish, sweetheart, very selfish, and I have tied you to me.”
“Gabriel? You are distraught. You have need of me?”
The voice came unexpectedly, easily in his head. He fought with himself to keep his mind blank, to ensure that no information went toward that perfect voice. Lucian had always been able to command with his voice. He could make anyone believe anything with that voice. That weapon. Gabriel had never heard anything quite so beautiful. Lucian had retained that gift even when he had lost his soul for all eternity.
When Gabriel refused to respond, the laughter came, a taunt, almost lazy. It chilled Gabriel to the bone. He had to protect Francesca from Lucian’s wiles. His twin was cunning and smart. Ruthless. Merciless. Gabriel knew better than any other. He had seen him in action for two thousand years.
Francesca laid her hand on Gabriel’s arm. “You are trying to tell me something but you haven’t gotten there yet.”
“You are with child.” He stated the four words clearly, starkly.
Francesca’s enormous black eyes went wide with shock. “That cannot be. It is not so easy. Why do you think our race has bordered on the brink of extinction? Our women are able to bear children only every few hundred years. I am a healer. I studied this for many decades, determined to unlock the key to our bodies so that we could conceive more often and be more successful in the carrying. I had wished to be able to understand why we conceive males instead of females but I could not find the answers.” She shook her head. “No, this cannot be.”
“You know I speak the truth. I knew our women can only conceive every so many years, and that they manipulate that time, but I also knew the chances were very good that, as you had never conceived, you would be ripe to do so and I took full advantage of that.”
She stared up at him a moment in silence, in shock. “But I am a woman, a healer. You could never have done such a thing without my knowledge...” She trailed off as she pressed her hands to her flat stomach in a kind of wonder. “It cannot be so.” Even as she denied it, she closed her eyes and sought inside herself. There it was. The miracle of life. The thing she had longed for. Cried for. Wanted more than anything. The very thing she had given up ever having. Growing. Changing. Cells dividing. A child. She wanted to be upset. She had given up the idea several hundred years earlier. She was prepared to go to the next world. She was not prepared for such an event.