Resting there, smiling, his arm around her, felt a little like being out on a very dangerous date. She thought about the way he’d kissed her, with blood in her mouth and the sun rising behind her, and wondered if he wanted to kiss her again.
“So, you think this plan is going to work,” she said suddenly, desperately needing to fill the silence. “You really trust Lucien?”
“How do you get a cat to bat at a string?” Gavriel whispered against her hair.
“I don’t know,” she said, shivering. “Drag it past really slow.”
“Exactly,” he told her, his cool fingers running over the arc of her cheek. He watched his own hand in fascination, as though he was surprised by what it was doing. “And if that doesn’t work, drag the string over the cat. You don’t show what you can really do with the string. You don’t start with jerking it up into the air or moving incredibly fast. That comes later. First, you let the cat catch it. And once the cat gets it once, the cat wants to get it again.”
“Like you’re going to let the Spider think he’s caught you?” Her voice came out a bit breathless.
He shrugged. “It’s funny to watch them when the string is in the air and they’re hanging on, paws off the ground. It’s funny to watch them dance. They’ll run right into walls to get that string back.”
Tana pulled away from him a moment, regarding him seriously. He was all lush mouth and drowning eyes, all pretty monster reclining on leather cushions, but she’d seen the expression on his face before Lucien left. “He’s been messing with your head a long time. Aren’t you worried that he’s manipulating you, Gavriel?”
She glanced up at the shining spot where the camera was. They were directly beneath it, which might mean that they might not show up on the film, but she was sure her voice would. If Lucien heard it, he’d know she never had any intention of helping him.
“I’m not sure it matters anymore. But will you do this one thing for me—will you lock your door tonight and stay inside until dawn? No matter what you hear?”
Tana took a shaky breath. That was the one thing that she couldn’t promise him, not if she wanted to help Valentina. Not if she wanted Jameson’s help. “Okay,” she lied.
He looked worryingly relieved. “Then let me tell you a story while we wait for dusk to fall. When I was a boy, there was a woman who looked after my brother and me—she told us tales of firebirds and witches, and about the warrior-princess called Marya Morevna whom Prince Ivan married. Ivan was all alone, since he’d given his blessing for his first sister to marry a falcon, his second sister to marry an eagle, and the third to marry a raven.”
“They married birds?” Tana echoed, not really so much for the answer as to show she was listening—and to make him smile.
“Birds who were sometimes men,” Gavriel told her. “When Ivan saw Marya Morevna’s fierceness in battle and her beauty, he fell instantly in love. They were married soon after. But warrior-princesses are very busy, so soon Marya Morevna had to invade somewhere or battle somebody and left Ivan in charge of her kingdom. He had piles of gold and very good caviar and everything anyone could want, except for one thing—she implored him never to go into a single chamber under the palace.”
Tana thought of her own feet on the dusty steps leading down to her basement and to her mother, waiting in the dark. “He did though, didn’t he?” Leaning in, she rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes.
“He couldn’t resist.” Gavriel’s accent deepened as he spoke. “And there, chained with twelve strong chains, was Koschei the Deathless. And Koschei said, ‘Please, I am so thirsty, pity me and give me some water. I have been locked away here for ten years, suffering torments you cannot imagine. My throat is so dry.’ ”
“Is this a real story?” Tana interrupted, thinking of Gavriel’s own decade of torment, of his own thirst.
But the vampire only laughed. “A very famous one, I swear it. Anyway, Ivan is a kindly soul and brings Koschei water, but his thirst could not be quenched with a single bucketful, nor with a second bucketful. But when Ivan brought Koschei the third bucketful of water, Koschei was restored to his full strength and broke his chains.”
“The sin of mercy,” Tana said.