Corinne sat in her bed regarding Dayan steadily. The healers were chanting softly, she could hear them in her mind. The atmosphere was soothing, tranquil even, but she was on the verge of a discovery. What was it she was thinking? That Dayan wasn’t human? Not of this world? What, then? An alien being? She shoved at the hair tumbling around her face as she studied Dayan’s mesmerizing features. Did it matter so very much one way or the other? How had they taken her to a cave deep within the earth and performed an exotic healing ritual that had actually worked? Was all of it real, or only parts of it? She pushed the idea of a blood exchange out of her mind.
She laced her fingers through his. “Tell me, Dayan, the truth about all of you. I need to know. What are you?”
The healing chant stopped abruptly at her softly spoken words. Desari glanced at Darius. “Perhaps we can return at a more convenient time to check on you, Corinne,” Desari offered gently. She smiled sweetly at the healer. “Gregori, would it be an inconvenience to return at a more suitable time?”
Gregori lifted an eyebrow at his sister. Aloud he sighed. “I think it would be best. We will return later.”
Darius cautioned Dayan silently. ‘Be very careful, Dayan. She must not be upset in any way. Gregori will monitor her heart from a distance, and I will watch over the infant. She has need of answers, and I believe she is more receptive than you give her credit for.’
Corinne watched as the three Carpathians left the room and quietly closed the door behind them, leaving her alone with Dayan. He stood up abruptly, restlessly.
She looked up at him with her large, clear eyes. “I think it is time for you to talk to me about what and who you are. Start at the beginning. Where are your parents?”
“They are dead – murdered, as your mother was,” he answered starkly. Dayan paced restlessly across the room, swept a hand through his long hair, leaving it disheveled in the wake of his marauding fingers. He suddenly reached down and caught up his beloved guitar, holding it close to his body like a talisman.
Corinne smiled to herself. His guitar. She was beginning to notice that he needed it in his arms when he was nervous, and he was nervous now. He was adept at asking her questions and invading her mind to get to know her, but he didn’t like that same spotlight turned back on him. She had never seen him so nervous. “Dayan.” She said his name softly, gently, and patted the bed beside her. “You look like a caged leopard in a zoo, pacing back and forth.” She didn’t add that he reminded her of a little boy clutching his favorite blanket. “Is it so bad to trust me with the truth?”
He looked down at her, his black eyes brooding and moody. “What happens if you cannot accept me as I am? What happens if I frighten you with the truth and your heart fails you?”
“Do you think I’m that weak, Dayan?” she asked gently. “My body is fragile – I’ve learned to accept that – but I’m not a weak person. I never have been.” She held out her hand to him. “Stop pacing and sit by me.”
Dayan stood for a long moment, his guitar across his chest, his eyes reflecting inner turmoil. Slowly, reluctantly, he crossed the room to sit carefully on the bed beside her. He enveloped her small hand with his larger one. “My heart could not take your rejection, honey. Not for one moment. Be very sure that you want to have this conversation now.”
“I am certain, Dayan. You think your feelings for me are very strong. Well, I have loved before. John.” She said her husband’s name and silently watched Dayan’s involuntary wince. “Don’t feel that way about him, Dayan. He was a remarkable man and deserved far better than a woman who didn’t love him the way he should have been loved. I know how strong my feelings for you already are. I tried to tell myself the attraction was purely sexual, but I think about you – your expressions, the way you smile, the turn of your head. Everything. Even the silly things like how you can be childish sometimes. I find myself thinking it’s an endearing trait. That’s not due entirely to chemistry.”