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"Gideon," he snarled
She didn’t stop In a blink, she was gone, the door closing on well-oiled hinges behind her Gideon stared at the door, his hands closing into useless fists at his sides Hell, he shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be doing this She’d been right to leave Vaguely, he knew he’d paid theht to be here, that he should be pissed, but he understood this place better than he would have at one tiround level wasn’t aboutyour ass kissed
Then he realized so The door was closed They left it open after a session’s couard would have put his carefully blank face back in and told him how many minutes he had before his ass was expected to be out of there Instead, he heard the locks snick in place again
Sohtened even lower
He cleaned up, and not just the dresser He didn’t kno to rehang those tapestry things, but he laid them on the bed, so they weren’t on the floor He picked up the candlesticks he’d snapped when he’d ripped a candelabruhted the vanity stool and put it back in front of its table and s and splinters, he used his hands as broo the cuts that bloomed He used a bowl that looked like an old-fashioned washbasin to hold the pieces Gathering cut, limp flowers, he stuffed them back into the vases he hadn’t broken
What started as grudging compliance to her wish to move one piece of furniture becae what he’d done, even though he couldn’t undo or erase it But as he continued to be alone, he kneas avoiding doing the one thing thather back
He turned toward the prayer bench It was innocuous looking, polished ith spaced depressions on the inclined floor piece, intended for placement of the shins Adjustable wooden pieces were at the end, providing a place to brace the foot, so the kneeler wouldn’t slide back during his devotions The riser in front of the bench, and the upper rail, would prevent the knees or body fro froh he had a curious desire to be stripped bare Still, it was hard enough to walk to that bench, and force hi his shins in the places provided and adjusting the brace pieces for his longer legs It wasn’t too uncomfortable, but he expected that, after a while, the knees would start to ache There was no padding, after all Two hand-sized holes in the upper riser led through to wrought-iron handles, obviously intended for gripping None of it seee and hold hiain, he knew this rooe was a state of mind, either embraced or rejected He’d rejected it three tiy of the enchanted castle, and thought of sirens and sorceresses, of s
He clenched his jaw "Fuck it" Threading his hands through those two holes, he took a good grip on the iron handles He stared at that stained glass angel, who stared back at hi expression He couldn’t detered warrior’s face CoerIt was like Mona Lisa, every expression and none able to be read there
"I’m here, damn you Come back now" He sed "Please" Anwyn had returned to her private office, calling up the Queen’s Chamber on her ry an to clean up her roohtened, the constriction increasing as he tried to fold the tapestries, push the flowers back in the vases As he got down and scraped glass and wax into his hands, her own fingers closed, feeling the pain of the s such tasks, and yet she knew this was harder for hi monsters were the ones that lived in your head The aroma of a red rose, sensory memory, could be as painful an assault as a bullet in the chest
"You are a strange and unsettling woman,cherOne who plays with a vampire hunter" She didn’t take her eyes froan Rei was near her It benizance was usually acco Perhaps because vampires had a physical way to inflict immediate mind, heart and soul intimacy upon humans, they didn’t realize that a human foolishly, deeply in love could acquire the same awareness, without a blood-link His scent wrapped around her like a longing for what could never be It ues you It’s why you likewith him" She stood behind her office chair, which she’d positioned in front of the monitor screen as if it were a barrier between her and what she atching Much like the barrier she’d always held between her and Daegan It was an unexpected discovery, that she felt some of the same wariness about Gideon’s ian’s
However, when the vampire slid his hands with possessive familiarity over her latex-clad hips and caressed the bare skin beneath the camisole, she leaned back into him, unable to deny her desire for his touch
"Play, yes But if you get hurt, his end will not be pretty Take care that your toy doesn’t get out of hand