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"It will onlymore difficult" He held out his hand to stop her, but Jane dodged hier now"
The gentle, mournful quality of her expression then stirred a irl--someone who reminded him of her The name Bianca flickered in his mind, and it seemed to hi
Jane hurried away, and Balthazar simply stood and watched her The dreamlike quality of it all , but he found he didn’t care If it were a drea as he was able to keep looking after Jane, to keep her in his sights That orth anything
"A pity, to see two young lovers parted," Redgrave said
Balthazar startled; he hadn’t heard Redgrave’s approach His cheeks burned as he thought of the private ht have seen "Sir, you should have rave leaned against a nearby tree He seerove around them--primeval, in some unfathoo so easily?"
"I’ll see her again soon" Though, Balthazar thought with a pang, not for long: Within the month, they would return to Rhode Island, where Catholics, Anabaptists, and all sorts of freethinkers were tolerated
"Yet the two of you think a parting is inevitable That you could never e is the only way to truly be together"
The man presumed too ers for his sister’s sake--she liked their eccentricities, and for their part they seeraves had always unnerved hi," seerave’s ability to stare down the church elders and flout all kinds of rules was less inspiring,If Balthazar were to speak of such private rave was the last candidate Balthazar would ever have chosen "I can’t see how it concerns you It’s improper to discuss it"
"Proper! You want to speak of propriety after such a passionate scene" Redgrave laughed Balthazar, who had never glimpsed even the knees or shoulders of a wo been seen at such an intensely intih about it Just as Balthazar was ready to walk off without another word, Redgrave continued: "What if I told you there was a way to escape all the ties that bind you?"
To escape being a son? A brother? A citizen of Massachusetts Bay Colony? "Irave leaned closer, so close that Balthazar felt uneasier than before "What would you be willing to do if it meant you could be with the woman you love?"
Balthazar considered the answer carefully before answering, "Anything but your bidding"
Redgrave didn’t like that The angry flash in his eyes threatened to shake his composure for the first tiood it felt to deny this rave said only, "We’ll see what you’ll do And I tell you now, Balthazar--youdown his ar helplessly as he looked at the knots holding hirave whispered in his ear, "Are you ready to do ht, but already the world was slipping away
Chapter Twelve
"HEY" SKYE SHOOK BALTHAZAR BY THE SHOULDERS as her mood shifted from merely concerned to deeply freaked out His eyes were all but shut, his face still, and he swayed on his feet like a man in a trance "Hey, come back Come back Balthazar!"
She slapped her hand across his face, hard, and instantly his fingers clamped around her wrist His eyes opened wide, but it still took hio?"
Balthazar slumped back, so unsteady that she wondered if he was dizzy or ill Was her blood some kind of poison? Skye braced his shoulders in her hands, and that seely, he said, "It was as if--it was like I was reliving my own past"
"Just memories?" Skye frowned; she didn’t knohat she had been expecting, but not that
"Not just memories It’s as if I’m really there Every sensation, every sound--they’re all perfect" As he spoke, he s words he didn’t dare believe "And not just any memories, either Skye, your blood takes va any difference here Why would vampires be h old photos? "So--just memories"
"You don’t understand" Balthazar shook his head, impatient but not unkind He took her aresture, she thought, but the touch still loarrace, and beauty, and vitality that nothing after death can le vaain Some of us deny it, but each of us knows it Life is irreplaceable"