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Narcise&039;s breath caught and a rush of heat flooded her

That very thought, that very te her, and now it bloohts

"You would allow that?" she said carefully

"I would welcome it," he replied His voice, so low and filled with desire, sent a stab of desire into her and freeing To have control, here, in this very chamber that epitomized her captivity, her complete dependence And to have such a s

His unique scent, fresh and wared with cedar and wool, had already seemed to overtake all of the other smells of memories-dark, awful ones-in this cha her of how he tasted and felt

"But then" No She shook her head

Temptation thrilled herand eased into despair But no How long would his resolve last, if indeed he truly had resolve and it wasn&039;t merely a trick?

As if he read her mind, Cale said, "I won&039;t touch you Even if you bid lanced at the ed her, dark and intense

Narcise are of a light fluttering in her center, broadening and spreading like the delicious heat of a fire on a cold Ro eyes still fastened on her; he walked over to the s there

"I understand why you hesitate to trust," he said, slipping one of the cuffs over his wrist and locking it into place, where it held his wrist just away from his head "Perhaps this will help" Then, unable to close the other aze A sharp twinge pierced her inside

"Narcise Believeyou could do wouldmy word not to touch you"

Trust ain, wordlessly this ti his wrist, wide and, she knew, cold He would give her that control?

Wholly? Willingly?

In a place where she&039;d fought for so long to keep her own?

The irony touched her deeply

And then all hts of irony and the like fled as she realized what she had Here Giordan Cale: handsoreat or small, as she wished

Narcise&039;s mouth dried and she found it hard to s as she walked toward hi back to stone again Heras they pushed out her fangs

All the while, their eyes met and held, and it see inside her own chest Their heartbeats pounded together, their breaths seemed to work in tandem, and for the first time, in this room, she feltwomanly

Womanly, and powerful, in a way she hadn&039;t felt since she&039;d loved Rivrik

Standing there in front of him, Narcise lifted his free arm, and felt the little ripple of a shudder beneath his skin Her upper fangs brushed her lower lip, and without thought, she took hiht his wrist toward her mouth

Cale went still Even his breath ceased as she watched the blue veins seeolden skin Instead of plunging in her fangs, Narcise flicked her tongue over the delicate ridges there, tasting the salt on his war the flavor of his scent and the essence of lifeblood pounding beneath its thin covering

When she lifted her face, she heard the soft hiss of his breath and saw the faint s his lips There was heat in his eyes, but no tension, no conflict in his face Merely pleasure

For some reason that comforted her, and she allowed her eyes to narrow and crinkle at the corners Allowing almost a smile And then she clicked the second manacle around his wrist, and stood back to survey her captive

As the thought flitted into her mind, at first her reaction was one of horror that she should even have thought the word She knehat it was like to be a captive, held immobile and helpless and at the mercy of the whims of others

But this was different, she told herself He gave up control willingly He offered He wanted to be here, he wanted her to touch himand whatever else she chose to do

And, she found, there was no doubt that she wanted to dos

That alone was a welcoly responded to the touch of a s protruded and the bloodscent filled the air, and the penetration began, even Narcise couldn&039;t control her own body&039;s instinctive reaction But those occasions hadn&039;t been real pleasure, or true satiation They&039;d been wrung fro

But now, tonight, this was for her All for her And Cale see to stand there all night while the blood flows from ine what youto kiss me and make the discomfort worth my while?"

"I never kiss," she told hiers itched to tear that shirt away and see as underneath She had a sudden fantasy ofon the chains, in his biceps and rippling over his chest, and she wanted to see if it could be real

His shirt was ged it loose fro behind theht sent another spear of lust into her belly, and she boldly se

Cale gave a soft sigh and when she looked up, his srown thatwared to say

"I&039;m perfectly comfortable," she replied and smoothed her hands beneath his loose shirt His fir of hair that she iined would be as dark as that on his head, skittered and treers And as she slid her hands farther up beneath the shirt, she covered hard slabs of pectorals and then her fingers curled up over sers brushed over what es of his Mark fro from beneath his hairline down over the back of his shoulder As she slid over that unholy branding, her own Mark twinged and she brought her hands to rest flat on the front of his chest, pressing into the wiry hair growing there

Narcise are of hi her as she stepped back and removed her hands from those warm planes, then realized there was no way to pull the shirt over his head while his wrists were chained

"Cut it if you like," he said, reading her thoughts "I have many more"

"As you will," she replied, but instead of reaching for one of the daggers, which had been used on her, she grasped the shirt at his throat and ripped The heavy linen , powerful sound as it tore, and left his chest bare to her avid eyes "It&039;s no wonder Suzette talks about you the way she does," she coainst the wall

The chains clinked with her violent le in his confinee of muscle in his arm as his elbow bent in an L-shape, his wrist fixed at the level of his head His skin, even beneath his shirt, wasn&039;t the norolden, as if tanned by a sun that never touched it

"In ay does Suzette talk about ed her fangs into the soft inside of his bicep, and he gave a short, sharp groan as his lifeblood burst free

The taste and scent of his skin, so silky and soft around that firled erotically with the rush of coppery blood over her tongue, and Narcise closed her eyes as a long-subdued desire rushed through her His bare chest brushed against her cheek, and the long line of his legs paralleled her body as she pressed flush against hied her hip, so close to that suddenly throbbing, hot and das She held on to his forearh hair covering his chest Texture, taste, scentand his lean, muscular body sandwiched between her and the wall

She pulled away after two long drags on his veins, swiping her tongue over the wound in a delicate little farewell, and looked up at hiold, and yet the centers were dark and intense He had a sort of pained half s For a moment, she almost shifted to cover them with hers, to taste him in yet another, more inti herself and testing hi had become unsteady and shallow Her nipples swelled behind the bindings she wore beneath the suddenly too-tight tunic

"More," he said, his eyes coainst me"

She saw no reason to hesitate, and peeled off the close-fitting tunic The freedom to do what she wished, to be in control and to enjoy the pleasure of thethe shirt aside, she untucked the binding around her breasts and began to unroll it, conscious of his intense regard

Her relief at the release of her bosoh intake of air when she pulled the last strip away and at last jounced free She raised her ar the pleasant sensation of her breasts lift prettily

"More lovely than I&039;d i over her like a low and deep caress "Will you take your hair down?"

"For one who has given over control," she said wryly, "you certainly have many requests, Cale" But nevertheless, sparked even further by her power and the pleasure sian to pull the pins froiven name is Giordan," he said "Use it"

Narcise paused in the process, one heavy hank of hair tuging bundle It was the first time she&039;d heard that tone of co

As if reading her thoughts, he spoke again "Very well, then, cher No real inti, no familiar names When you&039;ve come to trust me, then I would that you&039;d call me Giordan But to me, already you are Narcise" His eyes blazed fiercely, not with lust or desire, as before, but noith annoyance

"I think you&039;re mad, Cale," she said "We&039;ve hardly s when you don&039;t even knowof Rivrik, back when life was life and not infinite roteand much easier than this Back when she knew she would die so and in love with soave what passed for a shrug, and despite the aard angle of his arms, it was smooth and laced with conceit "Solow receding into an intense brown-blue gaze

Unbalanced and unsettled by the certainty in his voice, she yanked a few more pins from her hair Narcise was mollified when she saw the way his eyes narrowed in appreciation as she coh the thick tresses

Her hair was one of the reasons for her great vanity, for it hung to her hips All one length, it was a pure blue-black, thick and s bound up in braids or twists Next to her pearly skin and brilliant blue-violet eyes, the color was intense and striking