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Roland woke at full dark, feeling the rush of tingling awareness sizzling in his every nerve ending He quickly unfastened the co hisit wide He leapt to the floor with ease, landing soundlessly on the cold stone
His rest had not been peaceful Often he&039;d found hies flitted to and fro in his mind He was troubled, and not just on Jaes had been of Rhiannon, more often than not Beautiful, desirable, reckless Rhian-non Had he no uish cos of affection?
Could he not banish the te passages of the dungeons in utter darkness, his extraordinary vision showing him the way Blind, he&039;d have known the way It was embedded in him Every niche of this castle was It had been his ho atory of the immortal, the place in which he would serve the sentence for the sin he&039;d coainst the family he&039;d adored Yes, adored, but adored too late
And what earthly good was done by dwelling on it now?
He tugged at an iron ringa great deal of his yarn piric strength to move it No mortal could hope to achieve the same feat without the help of soe, andiron
His every step echoed a thousand times in the darkness There had once been a ladder here as the sole entrance to the dungeon&039;s lowest level fro, the set of spiral stairs had seemed more apropos
At the entrance to his charound level, he opened the door and eers and suits of clothes aside These, of course, he carefully rearranged to cover the entrance
Then he chose a fresh suit, and e
Hewooden ht the oil la severalaround him now, he supposed Rhiannon would scoff at the place he called his home The draperies that covered the tall, arched ere heavy and faded with tireen, once brilliant as eh a heavy fog The s the after the deaths of the castle&039;s rightful barons, were streaked and dirty Looking through theh the filmy eyes of an old man But wasn&039;t that what this castle was, after all? An old, old man, whose every beloved friend had left him to wither and die alone?
The brocade upholstery on the antique set tee had lost its luster long ago
The fireplace was a cold, dark cavity, holding the ashes of a fire long forgotten The hardwood chairs, once throne like and i, sat like sad witnesses to the end of an era, their wood grain and hand-tooled designs barely discernible through the years of neglect, their eh above, the chandelier, with its tier upon tier of candles, hung dark and brooding like a ghost of the past Draped with cobwebs and shrouded with dust, it watched in silence as Roland served his eternal death sentence in the rooms below
Rhiannon would hate these roo?
She&039;s here, now
The realization carounds He felt the vivid colors of her aura, and sensed theelectricity that always announced her presence In spite of hi
Not because he was eager to see her again, he told himself Not that at all
He only wished to be present to keep her in check God only knehat she ht do left to her own devices
He followed his sense of her,corridors and finally into the great hall Still she was not in sight He sensed Jamey&039;s presence now, as well, and Frederick&039;sand the cat&039;s Not within the keep, but without, in the courtyard
Beyond the heavy plank door, he saw her in the darkness Surprising hirown used to it by now?
She raced over the grass less brown earth, her path illu along between her feet She was clad in a pair of black denihs Small white socks barely covered her ankles and her feet were encased in black, lacing shoes with garish red stripes andfrom their soles
As Roland stood, transfixed, Ja one foot between her two and snatching the ball away Rhiannon tripped and tu to a stop with a cloud of brown dust rising around her Roland lunged, but stopped hihter She stood and brushed the dirt frohed She pushed the ebony hair froain, I want to learn this"
Roland cleared his throat, and Rhiannon turned, spotting him
"Don&039;t look that way, love,"she cooed
"I&039; instant, Roland realized he&039;d been ine! He&039;d been afraid thesoccer with a young boy Dah, immortals felt pain more keenly than mortals did, and Rhiannon would be especially sensitive But any injuries Rhiannon ht sustain would heal as she rested by day
Still, it stunned hi her in pain should shake hi to adhts
"He does have that ht"
"Does thisthe point?"
He nodded, but reluctantly Rhiannon strode baldly up to him and threw her arms around his neck Her embrace resulted in his starched white shirt and tailored jacket be coh, even though her body pressed tightly to his that way sent his pulse racing and caused his eyes to water"There are conditions, Rhiannon"
She gazed up at hiood deal taller
"Conditions?"Her eyebrows furrowed, showing her displeasure
He cleared his throat He was about to anger her Seeered her Still, he had to speak his ed so that she was about to put herself at risk"yet again
"At this match, you will behave with a modicum of decorum"
"Oh, will I?"
"You will try, for once in your existence, not to draw undue attention You will be polite, soft-spoken and unobtrusive"
Her eyes glittered
"And just ill I transforhed He only wanted to keep her fro discovered by Roers or another one like him Why did she have to be so defensive?
"Because I have asked you to, Rhiannon And because it is the wisest course to take Rogers isn&039;t stupid, nor is he the only agent in the area Anyone who&039;s learned Jah to look for him at thatupward into his face She gave an al of surprise and relief He&039;d been certain she would argue
Protecting Rhiannon was going to be as ri, an hour before the e, ereat hall
Rhiannon closed the heavy door, causing its hinges to groan in protest, and crossed the cold, dusty stone floor to join him
She chewed her lower lip
"I&039;m not sure I don&039;t have the benefit of a reflection by which to judge e to smile
"Must be a daaze, her own flashing
"Quite right You ought to paint my portrait, so I can see what I look like when I wish it"
"You know I don&039;t paint anylanced around her, and he knew she was noting the absence of any decoration adorning the gray stone walls There were only torches mounted in brackets, and here and there the mounted antlers of one of his brothers&039; kills
"This place could use it Whatever became of the portraits you&039;d done of your family?"
He shook his head The subject was not open to discussion Having the faces of those he&039;d failed looking down at hiony to bear
"In answer to your initial question, Rhiannon, you look fine"
"That, my dear Roland, is no answer at all"She stood before hi Describe toout and about wondering if everything is in place"She waited a aze moved over her, and he found hiht
"I&039;ll help,"she offered
"Begin with ht?"
She turned slowly and Roland nodded
"It gleath of it She wore it long, and unencus of any kind She&039;d co the bare length of her swan&039;s neck visible to the point of distraction She had braided a tiny, silken lock on the left side of her face; from the crown of her head all the way to her waist It had a petite charaze, lifted the braid in two fingers"You like it?"
"Yes"He licked his lips, then caught hio now? "
"But you haven&039;t finished"Her pout was utterly false She leaned forward
"What about the blouse? Does it show too ainst his will, his eyes were draard to the plunging neckline of the satiny, earment The swell of her creamy breasts filled the lowest part of the V, and Roland felt a twisting sensation in his sto for a sarcastic tone
She shrugged, straightened and struck yet another pose, this time hands on her hips
"And the skirt? Do you think it&039;s too short?"
It was tight,wrap, black and arh, Rhian-non had left the botto beneath silk stockings, extended fro first to one side, then the other, Roland&039;s gaze affixed itself to her legs"Perhaps it&039;s siested But instead of sounding dry and uninterested, his voice cas are wonderful, don&039;t you think?"She stepped nearer and bent one knee, propping her foot on low stool
"So soft against my skin Touch theht his hand in her, and pressed his palh, then rubber it up and down over the smooth, cinnamon-tinted silk
He sed
"As I&039;ve ree of subtlety Why do you not simply tea my clothes off and attery with his own responses than with her childish attempts to lure him
He saw the hurt in her eyes before she covered it, an he regretted his words at once She truly couldn&039;t hell herself, he supposed She was sier at himself to spill out onto her "I&039;m sorry, Rhiannon I didn&039;t mean"-- She tossed her hair
"Of course you did You&039;d pre fe me to become what you consider a true lady, to sit on a embroidered cushion and bat my eyes until you take the initiative, and ask me to dance Hah!
I&039;d be coated in reat hall by the time you oing to the match with you, but now I believe I will ride in the car wit Frederick and Jae into the clothes I brought for you before you leave If you think attending a schoolboy soccer match in such forlanced down at the bag she&039;d dropped near the door as she whirled and walked through it
He did not enjoy his walk It turned out that he wash quite hard-hearted enough to hurt Rhiannon and take ar sort of pleasure fro to hi when feeling as frustrated as he&039;d been
To resist her overt sexual overtures took every bit of will he possessed
But to give in to them would be foolhardy, to say the least Not only would she never let hiet that she&039;d won this particular battle of wills, but she&039;d probably flit away like a suain for years And in the process, she&039;d have loosed the beast he&039;d battled for so long
No Thisthing that sizzled between the potencywell, he could attribute that to the vampiric state Every sensation was felt nified by his nature
That explanation firmly established in his mind, he used his preternatural speed to arrive at the stadium before the little car he&039;d purchased for Frederick Hehelplessly hurtled through space by three thousand pounds of manmade scrap metal
At the stadium, he felt more conspicuous in the attire Rhiannon had chosen for hi
The blue denihtness to his groin The sweatshirt was black That part did not disturb hi hi called the Grateful Dead, had him at the end of his patience He was not amused by the skull and crossbones, or by the not so subtle irony in her choice At least he blended in with the crowd
In contrast, Rhiannon, seated just to his left, was anything but unnoticeable She shouted encourage tea in her seat, leaning forward or standing or both, when she wanted a better view, ht of the males in the seats near her, Roland noted with a rush of inexplicable anger
Still, in the seats below, near the team&039;s bench, he saw that Frederick was nearly as ani fierce in his uniforlare frohts, raced across the artificial turf with the ball Rhian-non shouted encourageoal
Roland scowled Was this supposed to be unobtrusive behavior? My God, he couldn&039;t take his eyes off her, nor could several other aze back to the field of play, just as another lad thrust a leg in Ja hiht his breath Jaed after the brat When Jaained possession of the ball, Roland stood