Embrace the Night

Page 122



"Come," she said, and covering him with three layers of blankets, she led him out of the cottage and into the carriage.

He huddled on the floor of the conveyance, the blankets spread over him, while she drove back to the city. He could feel the sun searching for him, feel its insufferable heat, knew that he would die in unspeakable agony if Sara betrayed him now.

It was still too early for there to be many people about. When they reached her apartment, she quickly unlocked the door, then ran down the steps to help Gabriel inside, guiding him into the bedroom.

He shook off the blankets, then sighed as the darkness closed around him. "Do you need anything?" she asked.

"I need to be left alone," he said, and his voice was low and heavy, as if he had been drugged. "All right."

"Promise me you won't come in here until after dark."

"Why?" she asked, and then, before he could reply, she made an impatient gesture with her hand. "I know. No questions."

"I would think you had all the answers you needed by now."
"Go to sleep, Gabriel. I promise not to disturb your rest."

He waited until she left the room, and then, after spreading his cloak on top of the counterpane, he stretched out on her bed and closed his eyes, the taste of her blood still hot on his tongue, her scent surrounding him, as he fell into darkness.

Chapter Nineteen

He woke at dusk. For a long while, he stayed where he was, recalling what had happened earlier in the day. Filled with rage, his body racked with pain, the hunger slicing through him like hot knives, he had been on the very brink of madness. And then Sara had come to him, offering him the surcease he needed. And he, cursed wretch that he was, had taken it.

Even now the thought of what he had done filled him with self-loathing.

Why had she helped him? Once she knew what kind of monster he was, why had she brought him here? "Because I love you."

He sat up at the sound of her voice. "Don't."

"You said that before, remember?" Sara remarked as she entered the room. "I said I loved you and you told me not to."

"You should have listened."