Gentleman, remember?
He placed a palm above her breast, spread out his fingers over the shirt and closed his eyes. The heat of her was delicious; it spread up his fingers, up his arm and through his system like waves of rose blossoms shushed by a breeze.
At the sound of her sigh, he opened his eyes to see she had closed hers. Her lips were slightly parted. Long dark lashes dusted her cheeks. If they weren’t sitting out in the open with tourists and Parisians passing by, he’d kiss her.
“What do you feel?” she whispered in a breathy tone, eyes still closed.
Nothing.
Nothing?
Hell, he felt absolutely nothing. He couldn’t read her truths as he could do to any person or creature in this realm. It was an odd gift he’d had since the incorporeal demon had landed inside of him. Oz was a truth demon, after all.
Really? he asked inwardly.
A mystery, Oz answered. One you must explore further. I need you to get your soul back, my friend. My wife waits for me!
Yes, Oz’s faery wife, who was soon to give birth to their first child. He owed Oz his freedom. And there was only one way to do that—find and restore his soul.
Retracting his hand, Rook stared at his palm a few seconds before wiping it along his pants leg. Nothing. What was that about?
“That bad, huh?” she said, remarking on his actions.
“I didn’t get the same feeling as I did last night. But if you lost the necklace, then what I felt last night could have been true. And now with it missing, it makes sense I would not feel it.”
“I’m so sorry. I will find it. I’ve had it so long it’s become a part of me. And if it was your soul, well…”
“It’s not your problem anymore. I’ll track back to the site of the attack and have a look around. Your neck.” He gestured to the bite mark. “It’s healing? I did feel latent traces of vampire when I touched you.”
“Like the shimmer?”
The shimmer was the subtle vibration of connection vampires felt when they touched one another. It was the only way they had to know one another, unless, of course, fangs were down.
“A bit like the shimmer, but I’m not vampire. I just know that feeling.”
“You have been bitten?”
“Many times.” He wouldn’t tell her it had been voluntary. And that it always delivered erotic pleasure. That was another of those secrets he’d take to the grave. “Part of the profession. Like I said—”
“You can read people.”
“Except, apparently, you.”
Tilting her head down, she looked up through her lashes. “I’ve a bit of intuition about people.”
“Still never fathered a child.”
“Maybe. But I do sense something about you. Your touch is cool. I thought the knights in the Order were mortals?”
Oops. “They are.”
“You’re not mortal, Rook. Especially because you seem to recall the bohemian period at the beginning of last century. What are you? There’s…something inside you.”
Her intuition was surprisingly on the mark.
“What are you that you can read me so well?” he countered.
She shrugged and sipped her tea. “My mother always said I had a keen sense of place in this world. And that I could place others too. Though I’m a bit of a mystery to myself. Thanks to the reincarnated soul, don’t you know? It’s a demon inside you,” she stated suddenly. “Am I right?”
Rook nodded, finding the centuries-old lie to protect his identity did not come forth with the usual practiced ease. What sense was there in lying when she had so cleverly figured him out?
Yet why couldn’t he see her truths? How annoying.
He toyed with the porcelain coffee cup. “A truth demon,” he offered. “Asatrú has been with me for centuries. Allows me to read people’s truths.”
“But not mine?”
“I’m not sure why that is. Oz is as baffled as I am. You’re the first person I haven’t been able to read. And your name is Verity. How ironic is that?”
“I’ll count that as a good thing. A girl can’t give up her secrets too quickly. A little mystery is a good thing, yes?”
As she drew her tongue along her upper lip, Rook decided that yes, mystery was indeed good.
“So you call the demon Oz?”
“Asatrú is his full name, and he is pleased to meet you,” Rook offered, though Oz made no whisper that he cared about the witch one way or the other. The demon was pouting because she did not have his soul.
“I don’t understand why the vampire would want my necklace. It’s just a wooden heart and of no value to anyone else. I don’t think vamps can detect souls, can they?”
“I’m not aware that they can. He may have claimed it as a sick kind of trophy. Did you get a good look at him?”
“I was frantic and more upset that I’d expelled all my fire magic and was feeling helpless. He was bald, but you already know that.”
“Right. The one you blasted with fire. Good shot.”
“I’ve expert aim, but unfortunately using so much fire magic depletes my stores quickly. And I had been rehearsing earlier.”
“Rehearsing?”
“I’ve a fire act with the Demon Arts Troupe.”
“Interesting. It was a good thing I happened along last night. I need to find that vampire. If he has the necklace with my soul in it—”
“If it is your soul.”
“I think it is.”
“You want to believe it is.”
