Angels of Darkness
She hadnât spoken of her lost babe since that terrible night when the storm had crashed against the house with unrelenting fury. Fen had been the one whoâd found her, the only one who knew what had happened. Eitriel had left a month prior, after stabbing a knife straight into her heart.
âIâm sorry.â Noelâs hand on the back of her head, strong and masculine as he stroked her in much the same way heâd stroked Mimosa moments before. But he didnât stop with her hair, moving his hand down to her lower back, careful not to touch the inner surfaces of her wingsâthat was an intimacy to be given, not taken.
He pressed against the base of her spine. She jerked up her head, startled. Instead of backing away, he curved his body toward her own, Mimosa slumbering in between them. He had no right to hold her in such a familiar way, no right to touch an angel of her power . . . but she didnât stop him. Didnât want to stop him.
It had been a long time since sheâd been held.
Laying her head against his chest, the beat of his heart strong and steady, she lifted her eyes to the silver light of the half-moon. âThe moon was dark that night,â she said, the memory imprinted into her very cells, to be carried through all eternity, âthe air torn with the scream of a storm that felled trees and lifted roofs. I didnât want my babe to leave me in the dark, but there was nothing I could do.â
He held her tighter, his arm brushing against her wing. Still he didnât withdraw, though all vampires were trained to know that angels did not like their wings touched except by those they considered their intimates. Part of her, the part that held the arrogance of a race that ruled the world, was affronted. But most of her was quietly pleased by Noelâs refusal to follow the rules in a situation that wouldnât be served by them.
âI had no children as a mortal,â he murmured, his free hand moving over her hair, âand I know itâs unlikely Iâll ever have them now.â
âUnlikely, but not impossible.â Vampires had a window of opportunity of roughly two hundred years after their Making to sire children, those offspring being mortal. Noel had been Made two hundred and twenty-one years ago. Sheâd heard of one or two children being conceived after that period of time. âDo you wish to sire a child?â
âOnly if that child is created in love.â His hand fisted in her hair. âAnd I do have children I consider family.â
âYes.â The thought of childrenâs laughter dancing over the moors eased the ache in her heart. âI think I should like to spend time with them.â
âIâll take you if you want,â he offered with a laugh. âBut I warn youâtheyâre a wild, wild lot. The babes are likely to pull at your wings and expect to be cuddled on the slightest pretext.â
âTrue torture.â
Another laugh, his chest vibrating under her cheek.
âYou do not sleep, Noel,â she said to him after long, quiet moments held against the steady beat of his heart, that big body warm around her own. âI hear you walking in the hall.â
The first night, sheâd wondered why he didnât leave the wing and head out into the gardens. Only later had she understood that he was acting as what sheâd named himâher wolf. Any assassin would have to go through Noel to get to her. Though she was the more powerful, his act had left her with a sense of trust that the Midnight had stolen from her.
âVampires need little sleep,â he said, his voice distant, though he continued to hold her.
She knew that wasnât the reason he stalked the corridors like a beast caged, but decided to keep her silence. Too many lines had already been crossed this night, and there would be consequences, things neither one of them was yet ready to face.
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I t was the next day that Nimraâs heart broke all over again.
She was in the library, working through her contacts for hints about who in her court might have links to someone who could access Midnightâa fact sheâd checked earlier without result, but that Noel had requested she recheck, in case anything new had floated upâwhen Violet ran into the room. Tears streaked the girlâs face. âMy lady, Mimosaââ
Nimra was running around the desk before Violet finished
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