“I’m very fond of Brice. We spend a lot of time together. He likes operas and theater. He’s quite intelligent,” she answered honestly. “He makes me feel alive even though I know I’m already dead inside.”
Gabriel looked down at the top of her bent head. He felt the pain of her words stab through him. Pain. Real, not remembered or imagined. Genuine pain at how she had suffered because he had not actively sought her. His fingers tightened around hers and he curled her hand against his chest, against his heart. “I am so sorry, Francesca. It was wrong of me not to think what might be happening to my lifemate when I did not find her. But you are wrong to say you’re dead inside. You are the most alive person I know.”
The flood of warmth she felt at his words alarmed her. She laughed to cover her confusion. “You don’t know anyone else.”
Gabriel smiled at her, savoring the feeling of happiness. He could look at her for all time. Listen to the sound of her voice. He would never tire of watching the expressions flit across her face or the sweep of her lashes against her cheekbones. Everything about her was a miracle to him and he was just beginning to realize she was real and not a fantasy. He could reach out and touch her skin, marvel at its softness. “That was not nice.”
“I know.” Francesca was very much aware of the power in his body as they descended together to the sleeping chamber. She had not used the underground hideaway for many years, but she knew it was necessary now. She could not sleep the sleep of the mortals or walk in the sun again. Gabriel’s ancient blood had changed all that. She was exhausted and only the welcoming arms of the earth could rejuvenate her, restore her to full power once more.
Gabriel waved his hand to open the soil. Francesca stood there for a moment, hesitating to move forward. Gabriel simply caught her around her small waist and floated into the waiting earth with her. He locked the house in a strong safeguard few would be able to unravel. Lucian. Only Lucian. What Gabriel knew, so too did Lucian. It was only his twin he worried about. Only his beloved twin who could destroy them. For a moment his heart clenched with the torment of betrayal, a heavy burden he felt as an actual physical pain.
Francesca did her best to put space between them, but he felt her exhaustion and he simply drew her close, curling his body protectively around her while he swept into her mind and issued a command to sleep. He was incredibly strong and she succumbed without too much of a struggle. He would have to face her on the next rising, but for now he simply savored the opportunity to hold her body close to his, to rest his head on hers, feel the silk of her hair against his own skin.
“Gabriel? You are injured in some way, I feel your pain.”
Lucian. Even now, locked within the earth during these vulnerable hours, his twin felt the wrenching pain in his heart. There was no gloating as one might expect from the undead, but in all the centuries of the chase, Lucian had never sounded anything but beautiful. Gabriel kept his mind blank, not wanting to take a chance that his brother might discover Francesca.
“Gabriel? This battle is between the two of us. No other can interfere. Should you have need of me, say so.”
Gabriel’s breath caught in his throat. There was compulsion in that voice, in that command, and it was so powerful he could feel the sweat on his forehead as he fought to break the contact. In the end it was easier just to answer. “It is a minor injury due to carelessness on my part. The earth will heal me.”
There was a soft silence as if Lucian was deciding whether to believe him or not, then emptiness. Gabriel lay for some time thinking of his brother. How could this have happened to Lucian? Lucian had always been the strong one, the one Gabriel depended on, believed in. Lucian had always been the leader. Even now, as a vampire, wholly evil, wholly depraved, Lucian did the unexpected. He always studied, he was always unfailingly courteous, always sharing knowledge.