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Guilt pricked Alec He didn&039;t like the sensation "Da was due to the amount of blood she&039;d fed ht me back I didn&039;t know She didn&039;t tell h to knoo next to hiarden What Kristoff saw, Alec had no idea - all he could see was the look on Cora&039;s face when she made the verbal slip, and realized she would have to tell hi to understand Pia I just accept that sos are important to her that don&039;t o at that What , however, that your first concern is for Cora, not Eleanor"
"Eleanor" Alec rubbed his nose as he thought about what to do with the extra Beloved "She&039;snot needed"
Kristoff gave hiht it was the only way that the council would sanction your removal from the Akasha We should have just let matters lie"
"And leftthe problem of one too many Beloveds than that It wasn&039;t at all pleasant"
"No, but I iht now, either, faced with both your original Beloved and her reincarnation What are you going to do about Eleanor ? "
"I have no idea," he said, his shoulders slu "I assume since I never even fed fro up a new life as a lich Our bond, such as it is, is tenuous, and she shouldn&039;t be affected by it being severed It&039;s Cora who concerns me She has an aversion to Dark Ones She saw me kill the reaper" Alec cast his h, that the memory now carried with it no pain After centuries of it causing hiony, emotion had been drained from the memory, just as if Cora&039;s admission had wiped it all clean "Sorry, she saw esture "Ruth was a reaper She just didn&039;t mean to run down and decapitate Eleanor"
"No" He knew that now He hadn&039;t for centuries, but after the last time he tried to kill Kristoff, they had finally worked out what had really happened, andher?"
"No, but I never apologized on her behalf for killing your Beloved"
"I never apologized for turning you, either," Alec saidto lash hiet all of it out at the same time
"If you hadn&039;t, I wouldn&039;t have found Pia, and she orth all those centuries I had to wait for her," Kristoff allowed "I could have done without you planning on destroying her, but since you couldn&039;t see it through, it&039;s all a moot point"
Alec couldn&039;t help but sht of hers That was no fun, I can tell you My chest hair hasn&039;t been the sahed and punched hioes off without giving you any grief, ill you do about Corazon?"
He sighed "She&039;sto do with her? Bindher I&039;ets to her first"
Kristoff slid him a curious look "Gets to her how?"
"I&039;d tell you, but I believe we&039;re about to have company, and it&039;s probably easier to explain it once rather than twice"
"Have you gentle in the doorway, her gaze drawn, as ever, to Kristoff He held out his hand for her, and she ainst him with a private s if Cora would ever cleave to him the way Pia did with Kristoff "I have no issues I was justsurprised" And hurt, but it wouldn&039;t do to admit that
I&039;m sorry I didn&039;t mean to hurt you
He turned to find Cora in the door, her eyes wary Eavesdropping, querida?
No, she said, startled, and he realized she hadn&039;t picked up his thoughts I justI figured I must have hurt you when you left like that, and then didn&039;t want to talk to me You&039;ve been put in a bad place, and part of that was due to the fact that I hadn&039;t told you the truth about me I wanted to tell you about it I think I probably would have, but then Eleanor was there, and she was your real Beloved, and I figured you&039;d want her
I don&039;t
No, I gathered that But it didn&039;t seeht justEleanor serve her purpose
He studied her face for a few seconds, then decided to see what path his life would take He held out his hand for her, just as Kristoff had done with Pia
Cora looked at his hand, hesitating His heart contracted with the pain that accoe that she didn&039;t want him, truly did not want to be his Beloved He was a convenient end to a means, that was all
Her hand ar against him Hope flared deep in the empty space where his soul was meant to be, the hope that, after er
Piasoht up on all the news, taking Kristoff with her as she left the rooht was he in the beauty of Cora&039;s eyes "Mi corazon," he said, rubbing his thued to be tasted "My heart"
"Alec, we need to talk Eleanor - "
"We will talk to her I do not want her hurt any more than you do, but she must come to the realization that you are my Beloved, not her"
"I don&039;t know It seems so heartless, somehow"
"Is your hesitation due to the situation with Eleanor, or that which is between us?" he asked, suddenly worried again Was he ard to hi the fact that she was his Beloved, or for the fact that Eleanor had been upset, was beyond his understanding
"It&039;sit ht be both I feel like I stole you froh I know I really didn&039;t She&039;s me, for heaven&039;s sake Or a past version of me So I couldn&039;t steal from myself, could I? And yet it feels like I did, and, Alec, I&039;ve never been the &039;steal someone else&039;s man&039; sort of person"
"You didn&039;t steal me, love," he said, amused despite the fact that she was obviously distressed He wanted to kiss the worry right out of her s out for herself, or she would never be content to bind herself to hiether There&039;s no other explanation for the fact that you saved et out," she said with a dark look "That&039;s the only reason why I saved you"
"There were others you could have approached for help That you didn&039;t abandon me after you kneho and what I was tells me that deep down you knoe are ainst his shoulder "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have your inner devil saying, &039;I told you so&039;? It&039;s almost more than I can bear"
"Inner devil?"
She smiled into his neck "It&039;s what I call my conscience She seehteousness ht and narrow She liked you frohted with the sudden quirky turn of her mind "Then she has my full approval Do not distress yourself, Cora I won&039;t ask anything aze dropped "What if I don&039;t want to give you anything?"
"Then I will continue on as I have" Only he wouldn&039;t Thinking over the past few days, he realized they were one short step away froh it was physically possible for him to still feed fro aware of it, this woman had found her way into his heart and bound him to her But he wouldn&039;t let Cora know that; despite her protests and rather odd ideas about Dark Ones, she had a large heart, and he kneith absolute conviction that she would allow guilt to sway her into Joining rather than a true desire to do so
"Ido I have toher hands
He save her a quick kiss just because he couldn&039;t resist that delectable ave her a second one because there was no way one was going to be enough "No We have all the time in the - "
The door opened Pia stuck her head in, her face tight with concern "We have co for you Kristoff has the room, but we need to hide you Can you find your way to the cellar? There&039;s a hidden door behind some casks of wine I have to run upstairs and warn Eleanor to keep mum about you, so I don&039;t have time to show you where it is"
Alec nodded "I knohere the hidden rooive you the all clear when Julian and his buddy are gone"
"Julian? Thethe hih to peer out of it
"He&039;s part of the Moravian Council Which means they know I&039;m out, and either know or suspect I&039;ve coone into the other roo"
He hustled her through the sunlight, ignoring the pain as they headed through the kitchen to a sh a series of reatly of the earth He pulled out a s it around the rooms to avoid the stacks of old furniture, barrels of wine the previous owner had left, and the usual detritus found in a house a few centuries old
Cora said nothing as he counted down a line of oak wine casks, handing her the penlight as he gripped a cask with both hands, throwing all his weight against it, willing it toway, sliding to the side, revealing a cobwebbed entrance cut low into the stone wall
"In," he said, kicking the reround where the cask hadabout mice," Cora said, her fear palpable
"If there are, I won&039;t let the look "Do I have to go in there with you? Would the Julian guy knoho I aards to you, that is?"
Pain laced hih he understood her reticence If it weren&039;t for her, he&039;d say to hell with the council and face down the er had only his own future to consider "No, he wouldn&039;t You don&039;t have to go withfriend, I&039;m sure"
She looked at him for the count of five before she nodded and ducked down to enter the room
He smiled at her ass He couldn&039;t help himself - she was just so contrary at ti on her and claiht then and there
The hidden room was more a hole scraped out of the side of theelse, the smell in it particularly earthy when he pulled the door closed behind the the back of his shirt and peering around suspiciously as he shone the narrow light around the tiny roon of rodent life, but his nose told hi herself into him
No Surely you cannot be scared of a tiny little aniht? Because if there is anythingthan littlenoses, I don&039;t knohat it is Well, OK, rats are icky, too, but I count the the beady-eyed, but e brown rat that scampered onto a broken chair across the small room
"OK, but if you do, I&039;m out of here It&039;s no reflection on HOLY JESUS!"
Cora screarees from the rat, and proceeded to climb him like he was a ladder
"You know," he said conversationally, her heaving breasts pressed against his face as she struggled to cli into his hips, "thatyou than you are of it, et nearthat, love, Julian will hear you
Sorry MOUSE! Can we leave yet? Please?
I don&039;t know, he said, rubbing his cheeks against the thin linen shirt, the scent of her and the feel of her breasts waking his appetiteboth appetites I&039; into my flesh Could youthank you
Sorry It&039;s just that I really do not like mice
I&039;ve ascertained that fact forto need oxygen
She pulled back slightly, just enough for his "Sorry," she repeated softly "Can you see theits face, one eye on them "No, I don&039;t see a mouse It probably ran when you screamed, and went back into its ho to peer into the darkness "Maybe Why are you hiding so from me? I&039;ve admitted I&039;m your Beloved - aren&039;t you supposed to let me have a lifetiainst the wall, his hands on her wonderful ass as she tightened her legs around his hips "Are you giving s, as well?"
That stopped her He could feel how disgruntled she was over the thought that he could keep things from her, but knew she couldn&039;t demand he allow her into his mind willy-nilly unless she honored those saht Just what, exactly, did she have to hide fros from her Dark One," he said pri to the next Beloved I see Is your back getting tired?"
"No, although if you slid down a bit, I could at least kiss you Unless you wish to take off your shirt so I can kiss your bare breasts?"
He felt her thinking that over, but she sighed, instead and cautiously unlocked her legs fro herself to the ground
"Do youbetween him and the door
"Not at all The rat doesn&039;t live ill make it past me to you," he said