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Then Nadia turned a page and there were William and Matthew Since the incident with Leonidas, Mal had let the two share co keep-away They’d wrestled over the ball until Willia look on his face Matthew had snarled and then subsided, giving hi expression Elisa had drawn the pose, though it had to be frouard dropped, Matthew had bucked hiain

She described the scene to Nadia, continuing to nuzzle at her throat, partly because Nadia seemed to like it soit At this mo the lead, Nadia sub quality to it, pri her do this with another woether Had she really just had that thought? There probably weren’t enough Hail Marys and Our Fathers to cover that sinful idea

"Their fangs won’t pull back?" Nadia asked, her breath a little short "It’s such a shame, because they’re so lovely otherwise It must make them terribly self-conscious"

"It does at times Nerida chipped one of hers on a rock one day by accident and the chip didn’t fill in as it would with nor powers Itthelands There’s a va to the island, and if he comes, he’ll see if he has any ideas about that If the boys came here before then," Elisa spoke carefully, casually, "I’e for Lord Brian to include you on his visit"

As she straightened, she slid her hands at Nadia’s waist up so her knuckles were pressed underneath the woe to a ht hold of one of the hands, turned it slowly, discreetly, so it was ainst the nipple that was so tight and needy Elisa felt an answering response in her own breasts

The men continued their conversation without interruption, but Mal told her what she already suspected Marshall is following his servant’s response like a starving lion, Elisa Don’t stop It’s helping theirl

It wasn’t so much cleverness as intuition, a desire to help, but the coue it She teased the nipple gently, squeezed the curve in a way that ain She’d been pleasantly flustered by Danny’s ated the Mal did However, Nadia’s silent urgency, her barely disguised need, was intoxicating And heartbreaking

Nadia lifted her attention from the sketch pad back to theA boat outlined in its own running lights was drifting by, like a sainst the dark water "Do you know I carried this last one long enough to produce milk? I mean, it’s odd, because vampire infants don’t drink milk If the mother is vampire, she feeds them from a puncture wound on her breast, so the baby can still bond through the breast-feeding If the mother is human, like me, you mix one part of your human milk with two parts of the father’s blood There are those who say that the milk isn’t really necessary, it’s just there to make the servant feel like a part of it, but I think they’re wrong"

She shifted the book closed, though Elisa noted her hand stayed as a e with William and Matthew "Marshall had a midwife come and pump out my milk, because those first few days I just lay there like I was dead It had to be done often Milk just trickled out and soured on the linens One night, he caht I wanted was my tears, and he put hisElisa the wo on ht But not because of the sunlight He stays away because I’ve made him stay away, and yet I want him so close as well How do you explain a woman’s heart to a male at a time like this, when even we don’t understand it? How can I love him more than breath and yet hate him and the whole world at the same time?"

Her voice was a bare whisper Elisa wondered if she knew her Master was listening to every syllable She thought she heard a falter in Marshall’s conversation with Mal, absorbing the blow of those words

Elisa slid around to her side, pulling up a straight chair Pressing her leg against Nadia’s, she put her arm around the taller woman’s shoulders and took her other hand "Sometimes life is so horribly cruel that none of us can ive yourselves ti awful happens, sometimes we’re like children We want it to be fixed and all better right away We want it to s like thisOh lovey, there is no why to it It was a truly horrible thing I don’t think anything will ever o on"

Nadia opened the book again, looked down at the album "I don’t want them to be a substitute That wouldn’t work, and it’s not fair"

"I don’t think that would happen They’re not babies, and as ravates Mal, I know they’re not They’re young vampires that need home, family Protectors"

"Do you think they would need me?"

"Without question" Elisa was sure of that one She squeezed Nadia’s hands, aze head-on "The way they bonded to host in their minds I think they’ll need that, as well as Lord Marshall’s firm hand and kindness, to feel like they can make it in the worldand maybe they’ll help you, too" She drew a breath "I lost someone so dear to me, in a most horrible way If I hadn’t had the care of these childr--fledglings, I wouldn’t have seen the point of anything