Gates of Rapture (Guardians of Ascension #6)(15)
Author: Caris Roane

The image made her smile.

Dear Leto.

She had missed him. She understood that now. She had missed him as much as life itself. She had known him all her two thousand years, even if their paths crossed infrequently. Even so, he’d been a constant in her life and an excellent friend to Thorne, having served as Thorne’s mentor until recent decades. Leto had also inspired her erotic poetry at the Convent—the one signal, even to her own committed and devoted mind, that perhaps she needed a different life than the one ordered by the dogma of the church.

So here she was.

“Grace?”

Leto.

She turned in an easy circle, flapping one hand more than the other, her knees bent to keep her chest below the water. When she was in position to face him, she smiled and a soft vibration flowed through her body. She let loose another sigh, deep and carrying a slight groan. Was that her obsidian flame power or just her desire for her breh? How strange her life was right now.

Because of her heightened vision, she saw Leto as in a glow. Her man was in warrior gear. With his hair tight in the cadroen, he looked fierce, handsome, god-like, and powerful. Made for war.

He was an amazing vampire, a philosopher and a warrior combined.

Lest she get caught in his beauty, she asked, “You wanted to talk?”

“I thought we should.” But his gaze drifted to her chin then her shoulders and chest. His lips parted and the air smelled even more of the forest than before. What an elegant scent.

She smiled. “Maybe you should sit down on the spring’s edge.” A hand-hewn stone shelf rimmed the entire pool.

He sat down with his back to her. His shoulders dipped a little. “Why did you return?” he asked. “Why now?”

So he wanted answers. She would try hard to be as honest with him as she could. “Because I heard you calling to me. I have all along, you know. From the time I left Second Earth five months ago.”

“What do you mean?”

She remembered the sounds of his beastly roars. Even between dimensions that sound had reached her, burrowing into her heart, reminding her that she had left behind a warrior who carried a breh-scent meant just for her. “When you roared in your pain, I could hear you, all the way to Fourth. No one else could. Just me. But I heard you. That’s why I came to you today. And … it was time.”

She watched him nod. His leather cadroen bobbed. “You’re very powerful.”

“And we have a connection,” she said. “Though I don’t understand it.”

“I don’t, either, but there is something I must know. Did I … hurt you? Earlier, I mean.”

Grace drew in a sharp breath. “Of course not. You must never think that what happened between us wasn’t consensual, or that I didn’t savor every second of it, or that you hurt me. I promise you, I’m uninjured.”

“Good. I was so afraid.”

“You needn’t have been. But now I have a question for you, maybe a dozen, in fact. What is this that you’ve become, this extraordinary creature—all Leto, yet more.”

“You mean this beast?”

“Yes.” She chuckled. “This beautiful beast. The one I personally hope to see more of.”

At that, his back tensed and he twisted his head slightly to look at her. His nostrils flared. “The entire forest smells like a sweet meadow right now. That’s what I smell, you know, when I’m around you, your breh-hedden scent. But I can’t believe you would speak well of this beast.”

“He’s you. Why wouldn’t I speak well of something that is more of you?”

He looked away again. “That is your renowned compassion speaking, your acceptance of everyone around you. But this beast that you praise is a death vampire, or the remnant of one. At least that’s what I think it is. How can you speak well of that?”

“Do you know for certain that these manifestations are a result of taking dying blood?”

He shook his head. “I’m really not sure. But it seems logical.”

“Yes, I suppose it does. Did you ever seek treatment?”

“I stayed in the hospital in Metro Phoenix Two for a couple of weeks for tests and observation. My beast even emerged for the staff once. The nurses wouldn’t come near me but I could hardly blame them.

“After that, I had a complete blood transfusion and I spoke with Alison for hours. She thought there were three possibilities for this transformation: a consequence of having taken dying blood, an unheard-of emerging power, or possibly the results from having taken Havily’s blood.”

“Alison is very wise. So it is possible that what you’re going through has nothing to do with dying blood.”

“Yes, it’s possible.”

He was still facing away from her, bent over slightly. “There is something I must know,” he said. “Why … why did you leave with Casimir five months ago? I’ve never understood. I mean I know you scented him, as you scent me, but how could you have chosen him, of all vampires?”

She paddled a little bit more, her knees still up, her gaze fixed on the small waves she created in front of her. But how to explain? “I had to go because of a powerful intuition I experienced about Casimir’s future. Every cell of my body cried out that it was necessary, that I would not survive if I did not go with him; nor would you. What I believe, Leto, is that our fates, yours and mine, are intertwined with his, and I had to be with him to make sure we were all safe. When I left, it was with the certainty that if I didn’t leave with him, I would lose you both, that you would both die.”

“You believe you left to protect me.”

“Yes, though I have no way of proving it. Marguerite had the same experience with Casimir once. She prevented his death some months ago because she knew, in the same way that I do now, that Casimir had to live, that he has some critical mission to perform in the future.”

“But you don’t know what it is?”

Grace shook her head, her long hair pulling to and fro beneath the water and causing more ripples. “No. Neither Marguerite nor I know. However, I am convinced it was about saving your life.”

“How do you know that?”

She shook her head. “I just know. I think it’s my obsidian power at work.”

“So Casimir is no longer your breh?”

“No, he is not. I no longer scent him, nor does he scent me.”

He rubbed his face with his hands as though working hard to make sense of the incomprehensible. “So why do you think you stopped scenting him?”