Bound by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy [9]
“You haven’t won until I’m dead,” she hissed.
“Now that would be a waste.” His brooding gaze lowered to the full lips that could send a man to paradise. “Accept my bargain, Jaelyn, and make both of us happy.”
If he hadn’t possessed the heightened senses of a powerful fey, he wouldn’t have caught the dilation of her eyes, or the faint flare of her nostrils as she reacted to the scent of his desire.
“ No.”
“Then you will remain my prisoner.”
“You can’t hold me captive forever.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her unmitigated arrogance. Typical leech.
No, not typical, a voice whispered in the back of his head.
Even among vampires she was ... astonishing. Special.
“You might manage to free yourself from the chains, but you can’t escape Avalon.” He nodded his head to the thick mists that were visible through the heavily shaded window. “And there’s something else you should know.”
“What?”
“Time moves differently within the mists.”
She frowned, easily sensing the truth of his warning. “How differently?”
“It’s never constant,” he admitted. It was his theory that the mists that Morgana had created were similar to the mists that ran between dimensions that the Jinn used to travel. It would explain why time ran differently from the outside world. “A few hours might have passed since we arrived on Avalon or it could be several weeks.”
“Then why did you bring us here?” she demanded in frustration. “For all you know Sergei has already resurrected the Dark Lord.”
He shuddered. This female was too young to have any memory of the Dark Lord or his loathsome hordes of minions. Otherwise she would never speak of his return as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience.
“We would know if the gates of hell had been opened,” he assured her dryly. “And it was the one place I could keep you hidden from your fellow leeches.”
Too late he realized just what he’d revealed.
“You risked the end of the world just to take me hostage?”
Abruptly turning to hide his discomfort, he paced to stare out the door that opened to the attached baths. He grimaced as he realized the shallow pools were still filled with the scented waters that Morgana had demanded her sex slaves use to wash in before coming to her bed.
“I told you, I need someone to watch my back,” he snapped, his voice suddenly harsh.
“Don’t you have a tribe roaming around nearby?”
“They attract precisely the sort of attention I’m hoping to avoid.”
“And?”
He turned to meet her disbelieving gaze. “There is no ‘ and. ’”
The chain rattled as she took an impatient step forward, clearly sensing he was not being entirely honest.
“Yes, there is.”
“Damn, that’s annoying,” he muttered.
“Then release me.”
Not a chance in hell.
His gaze skimmed over the hard lines of her body. She was like a sleek greyhound. All muscle and grace.
And his.
He shook off the disturbing thought, concentrating on a half-truth that would satisfy her freakish, insanely annoying talent.
“I’m not entirely certain that Tearloch’s madness is an isolated incident.”
She was thankfully distracted. “You think it’s infectious?”
“No, but the veils between the worlds are thinning, increasing the opportunity for the Dark Lord to touch the minds of others.” Regret that he hadn’t prevented the darkness attacking Tearloch sliced through his heart. Yeah, he was quite the prince, wasn’t he? “And unfortunately it’s impossible to detect his influence until too late.”
A strange emotion rippled over her exquisite face before she was abruptly turning to stare at the far tapestry.
Sympathy?
Not bloody likely.
Not from his cold-hearted Hunter.
“How do you know that I’m not under some Jedi mind control?” she mocked, proving her indifference.
“Vampires are impervious to such tricks,” he growled. “Not to mention the fact you’re too irritatingly stubborn for the Dark Lord to bother with.”
Her lips thinned. “No.”
“No, you’re not stubborn?”
“No, I don’t accept your bargain.”
He surged